Calorimeter in the ARIES Recovery System*

The ARIES system (Advanced Recovery and Integration Extraction System) is an automated weapons component recovery system that includes four state-of-the-art NDA (Non Destructive Assay) instruments to analyze all outputs and the final product. The instruments are integrated with robotics sample handling to provide the analytical data and are controlled by a central computer. The NDA instruments are a Plutonium Isotopic Composition system, Neutron Coincidence Counter, Segmented Gamma Scanner, and a Calorimeter. This paper will describe the Calorimeter system which uses the new Windows environment software package to communicate with the calorimeter and the control computer. Storage, retrieval, database, and operations with other software packages, such as Excel, are provided to allow the operator to analyze the calorimeter system. The Host computer assumes control of all functions of the calorimeter system in the remote operations and retrieves the data upon completion of the calorimeter sample run allowing the robotics system to change samples at the earliest possible time for maximum sample throughput. The calorimeter Windows operating system allows viewing of the calorimeter, room, and bath data during the sample run.