Year
1988
Abstract
A need for faster plutonium calorimetric assay measurements at several DOE plutonium facilities has been established. A method for reducing the measurement time of an ANL air-bath bulk calorimeter to less than 20 minutes for bulk samples was proposed, and a field test to gather additional data and develop the best measurement protocol was conducted. Improvements in the sample preheating, data acquisition hardware, and prediction algorithm software were made to optimize the performance of an ANL air-bath calorimeter for fast measurements. The modified calorimeter was tested at ANL and at Rocky Flats on a limited number of samples in the 1-4 watt range. The measurement time was 17-18 minutes with a precision of less than 1%. A new air-bath bulk calorimeter with a lower power range and larger sample diameter incorporating the fast measurement technology has been proposed. The new instrument could be ready for testing in 12 months.