BARC/PUB/08/0564

 
  Comparison of alpha-spectrometry and alpha/gamma ratio method for the determination of americium in plutonium bearing fuel materials  
     
 
Author(s)

Mirashi, N. N.; Shah, P. M.; Aggarwal, S. K.

ABSTRACT

Determination of americium is one of the requirements of chemical quality assurance of plutonium bearing fuel materials. Alpha-spectrometry is generally used for the determination of 241Am in Pu bearing fuels since the efficiency of semiconductor detector used for alpha-spectrometry is independent of the alpha-particle energy in the 4 to 8 MeV range. However, this method has limitations for Pu samples containing extremely small or very large amounts of 241Am. Thus an alternative methodology based on alpha/gamma (a/g) activity ratio was developed and tested using different samples. The method is based on the determination of total a-activity (of 60 keV peak) of an aliquot of the solution and the total g-activity present in the aliquot. The method is fast as it does not involve chemical separation of Pu and Am as required in the alpha-spectrometric method. Data obtained on synthetic and real life samples demonstrates the usefulness of the developed alpha/gamma ratio method for the determination of 241Am in Pu bearing fuel samples.

 
 
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