Characterisation of Safeguarded Nuclear Materials in the Republic of South Africa using Non-Destructive Assay Techniques

Characterisation of Safeguarded Nuclear Materials in the Republic of South Africa using Non-Destructive Assay Techniques.<u>PP Magampa</u>1, TM Leshilo1, R Chauke1, BR Masemola1, KR Masanabo1, HM Bohlolo 1, RD McElroy 2 1. South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, Pretoria, South Africa.2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, USA.Abstract The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation SOC Limited (NECSA)’s Nuclear Safeguards Management (NSM) department is delegated to implement Safeguards Agreements (i.e. Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, INFCIRC/394 & Additional Protocol, INFCIRC/394.Add1) on behalf of the South African Department of Energy. The technical support function, a section within NSM is responsible for ensuring characterization and verification measurement programmes for all safeguarded nuclear materials within the State are implemented in line with Safeguards obligations. In this work, Non-Destructive Assay (NDA) projects (over the past 3 years) pertaining characterization and verification of nuclear materials will be discussed; these measurement programmes include: UF4 unburnts enrichment measurements coming from the former conversion plant in SA; The 235U content in the U-residues resulting from 99Mo production using the High-Activity Active Well Coincidence Counter (HA-AWCC) and other ad hoc characterization measurements carried out for Safeguards purposes. These measurement programmes are carried out using mainly Gamma Spectrometry and Neutron Counting techniques.Key Words: Safeguards, Characterization, UF4 unburnts, U-residue, 235U content