Year
1996
Abstract
A new hand held instrument for routine inspection use has been designed and is being produced for the Euratom Safeguards Directorate. To verify stocks of nuclear material, the inspectors often make use of non destructive measurement methods. They can choose from a variety of instruments, basic units to provide quick qualitative information for gross defect determination or highly sophisticated Units, delivering precise isotopic composition information. The new instrument introduced here will mainly cover the first range of applications. It will confirm whether a sample contains Uranium or Plutonium, or both. It is designed to allow U enrichment measurements, but will not provide isotopic composition for Pu. The device is small, light, easy to carry and hold and works in a standalone mode. Detector, electronics and display are contained in a single box. The LCD display shows the acquired spectra or countrates in regions of interest, and runs a (simple) user dialogue controlled with four soft keys. Photons are measured with a collimated and shielded NaI detector. The electronics can cover high input rates and provides stability. An automatic pattern recognition algorithm, supporting the inspector’s decision making process, is in preparation.