Year
1974
Abstract
A meaningful quantitative measurement program for nuclear materials control requires not only instrumentation to assay special nuclear material, but also the ability to determine a statistically defensible estimate of the uncertainty in that assay. Expressions are presented which estimate the contribution from calibration to the uncertainty in the assay of both a single inventory item and an entire inventory. The latter case must include the fact that the results for all items assayed using the same calibration curve are correlated. A Monte Carlo model of the calibration-as say procedure which has been developed confirms the ability of these expressions to properly estimate the uncertainty due to calibration. This model and the results obtained are presented along with examples of the magnitude of this contribution.