Validation of Iron and Coulometry Systems at LANL’s RLUOB Facility

In August of 2020, C-AAC successfully installed equipment at Los Alamos’s Radiological Laboratory Utility Office Building (RLUOB) to perform iron analysis by UV-Vis spectrometry and high precision plutonium assay by coulometry (CPC). The systems will be replacing the instrumentation that currently supports plutonium modernization, nuclear energy, nuclear forensic, and nuclear safeguard programs in the Chemistry Metallurgical Research (CMR) facility and will need to prove that they can match the established instrumentation for precision and accuracy prior to the older systems being retired and the CMR facility closed in 2024. In addition, the work will have to meet strict standards that support 10 CFR 830.120, Nuclear Safety Management – Quality Assurance Requirements, DOE O 414.1D, Quality Assurance, and NQA-1 2008/NQA-1a-2009, Quality Assurance Requirements for Nuclear Facility Applications, and NAP 401.1 Weapon Quality Policy. The plan to validate the instruments and methods, challenges found during the qualification process, and the data used to validate the instrumentation will be discussed.