Analysis of uranium using delayed neutron emission

Analyses of uranium and thorium by delayed neutron counting are described.The experimental system comprises an automatic pneumatic transfer system associatedwith a device made of twelve BF 3 neutron counters. Using homogeneous preparedsolutions of the samples, the analyses were based on a triple cycle each including60-second irradiation followed by 1-second cooling and 60-second counting.In these conditions, the limit of detection of uranium is about 0.3 µgwith a precision of measurement better than 10%. The contributions of possibleperturbations from 17 O(n,p)17 N reactions, followed by simultaneous –disintegration and neutron emission and from (n) reactions, have been studied.