RESUMEN
Alpha specific activity of 243Am was determined using pulse shape discrimination in liquid scintillation spectrometry. 238Pu, 36Cl and 239Np (purified from 243Am) were used for obtaining the spillover of alpha/beta particles into the beta/alpha channels, respectively. Synthetic mixtures of 241Am/243Am were prepared. Using the alpha-specific activity, weights of the stock solutions used and the half-life of 241Am and 243Am isotopes, the expected 241Am/243Am atom ratios in the mixtures were determined and compared with those obtained by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). An agreement of about 1% was obtained between the 241Am/243Am atom ratios determined by the two methods. This shows that liquid scintillation counting with pulse shape discrimination can be used for 243Am determination with an accuracy better than 1%.
RESUMEN
Multivariate regression calibration using multiple linear regression (MLR), principle component regression (PCR) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) algorithm was performed on 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu and 241Pu atom% abundances to predict 242Pu isotopic abundance. The MLR algorithm was found to be the best among these three algorithms. The effect of 238Pu composition on the 242Pu abundance prediction was found to be small but significant especially for achieving high accuracy of <0.5%. PCR and PLSR generated nearly identical results and were inferior to the MLR results. A comparison of MLR results with those obtained by employing seven previously reported empirical methods revealed far superior prediction capability of MLR model. Among the seven empirical models, the best prediction capability was found for Bignan correlation containing 238Pu isotopic data. The study clearly demonstrates that the production of 238Pu and 242Pu has some small correlation and the use of 238Pu in isotopic correlation for 242Pu prediction is important to get accurate results.
RESUMEN
Different correlations are evaluated for the determination of (242)Pu in Pu generated from PHWR reactors with an average burn-up of about 10,000 MWd/TU. It is shown that the correlations involving ratios of Pu isotopes, except for (241)Pu, provide data with better confidence compared with those involving the atom% abundance. These correlations are also attractive when the decay period of the given sample is not known. In addition, it is shown that instead of using (239)Pu atom% abundance alone (Swinhoe et al., 2010), either (240)Pu atom% or a linear combination of (239)Pu and (240)Pu gives abundance of (242)Pu with better reliability. The uncertainty due to different decay periods also remains unaffected when using the correlation involving both (239)Pu and (240)Pu atom%. The present conclusions are based on Pu isotopic composition data from PHWR reactors ((239)Pu 65-75%) whereas those reported by other investigators are for PWR and BWR types of reactors.
RESUMEN
A correlation has been developed for the determination of (235)U/(238)U atom ratio in uranium samples using liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The (235)U/(238)U atom ratio determined by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) was correlated to the ratio of (i) alpha-count rate and (ii) Cerenkov count rate due to (234 m)Pa in the sample; both measured by LSC. This correlation is linear over the range of (235)U/(238)U atom ratio encountered in the nuclear fuel samples, i.e. the low enriched uranium (LEU) samples with (235)U<20 atom%. The methodology based on this correlation will be useful for the quick determination and verification of (235)U/(238)U atom ratios in fuel samples using cost effective technique of LSC.
RESUMEN
This paper reports studies on the determination of trace levels of samarium, europium and gadolinium in aqueous samples by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In this work, a membrane-based filter paper was used as a sample support for the liquid samples. The laser-induced plasma was produced in air at atmospheric pressure, using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Calibration standards and synthetic mixtures of these lanthanides were prepared using solutions prepared from respective high purity oxides. Linear calibration was obtained for Sm, Eu and Gd by normalizing the intensities of lanthanides emission lines with respective to C(I) 193.029 nm emission line. The concentrations of Sm, Eu and Gd were then determined in a solution containing a mixture of these lanthanides. The concentrations of individual lanthanides were obtained within 5% of the expected values. Limits of detection were found to be 1.3 ppmw (Sm), 1.9 ppmw (Eu) and 2.3 ppmw (Gd).