Year
2004
Abstract
One of the by-products of the nuclear enrichment process is Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6). To adhere to Safeguards criteria for bias defect testing of the UF6 molecule sample in enrichment plants, inspectors for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) currently must submit samples for analysis by using mass spectrometry. The only other means of analysis presently available entails Non-Destructive Assay (NDA) measurements using gamma spectrometry. However, this method does not provide results of sufficient accuracy. Furthermore, the process of gathering samples, handling, shipping, and then analyzing the samples is both expensive and timeconsuming. Since the presence of UF6 and the accurate measurement of UF6 are so critical to validating the enrichment process and detection of possible diversion, a more efficient method of measurement, both in overall cost and labor, is proposed. Such a system must also provide results as accurate as those achieved by means of mass spectrometry. To meet this need, Canberra Aquila, Inc., along with its joint venture partner, the Natural Sciences Center of the A. M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute in Moscow, proposes to develop a portable system utilizing Tunable Diode Laser Spectroscopy (TDLS) that will allow on-site enrichment analysis of UF6 samples by IAEA inspectors. Additionally, extrapolations of this system could be connected directly to the UF6 cascades to perform real time, on-line monitoring. This paper will discuss previous developments in instrumentation using Tunable Diode Laser Spectroscopy and how these developments can be applied to the production of a new instrument for inspectors to monitor UF6.