Year
1998
Abstract
NMCC-SAL is a central laboratory responsible for measurements of nuclear materials in the States System of Accountancy and Control (SSAC) of Japan. Since its foundation in 1976 the major functions have been Destructive Assay (DA) of uranium and plutonium elements and isotopes in safeguards samples as well as Non Destructive Assay (NDA) at inspection sites. A large scale reprocessing plant, which is now under construction in the northern part of Japan, added new aspects to NMCC-SAL including design and construction of On-Site Laboratory (OSL) for DA and NDA. This paper describes past and current activities and experiences plus directions in future in destructive analysis at NMCC-SAL emphasizing quality control of DA services. Since 1977 and 1980 respectively, uranium/plutonium samples more than 3800/4700 have been analyzed The analytical results are periodically exchanged with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to evaluate comparability of the analytical performance. NMCC-SAL has technical cooperation with other laboratories which includes joint preparation of LSD spikes with IAEA-SAL, inter-comparison analysis of plutonium inspection samples with IAEA-SAL, Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC), and information exchange with Technology Center for Nuclear Control (TCNC) of Korea. The NMCC-SAL has been participating in the Safeguards Measurement Evaluation (SME) Program administered by New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) of US. Working standards of Pu and U/Pu were prepared by NMCC-SAL for the use of quality control and the validation analysis was performed with the help of other laboratories (PNC, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), IAEA). The necessary number of DA samples for inspection and quality control was also investigated.