FIELD ASSAY OF PLUTONIUM WITH A NEW COMPUTERIZED SEGMENTED GAMMA SCAN INSTRUMENT*

Year
1974
Author(s)
E.R. Martin - Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
D.F. Jones - Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Leslie G. Speir - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Abstract
An automated passive gamma scanner for NDA is described, engineered around a minicomputer and an automated scan table. The computer permits virtual hands-off operation and offers a segmentby- segment profile of fissile content, as well as an estimate of the propagated statistical measurement error. Since the measurement is transmission corrected on a segment-by-segment basis, a wide variety of container sizes and material matrices can be accommodated, permitting two-percent measurements on scrap and waste samples containing between five and five-hundred grams of fissile material. Field tests of the new instrument at ARHCO in Richland, Washington, are also described.