TECHNOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES FOR DETECTION AND MONITORING OF HYDROGEN FLUORIDE IN THE ENVIRONMENT: AN ASSESSMENT OF SOURCES AND SIGNATURES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

The successful application of environmental monitoring in nuclear safeguards is highly dependent on a rigorous and well-defined program of sample collection, sample analysis, quality assurance, and expert evaluation of the measurement results. Application of environmental monitoring also is directly dependent on the identification of specific analytes that would be indicative of declared or undeclared nuclear activity. In the case of uranium enrichment, hydrogen fluoride, or HF is also used and is a by-product of other industrial applications. This paper reports the results of a study performed to identify the sources of HF in addition to uranium enrichment and the methods capable of detecting HF gas in the environment and identifying its source. In addition, the paper will address the question of whether or not HF from uranium enrichment operations can be uniquely determined.