Year
2008
Abstract
The Falcon 5000 is an advanced Radionuclide Identifier (RID) based on a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. It utilizes Pulse Tube cooling technology to minimize microphonic detector noise and so also achieve the energy resolution needed for isotopic measurement. While there are some high energy ?-lines available for plutonium, the most intense ?- and x-ray peaks are located in the highly overlapping 100 keV region. Therefore having a detector with a high energy resolution is an essential requirement for successful determination of the relative isotopic composition. Analyzing of the most intense region allows shortening the counting time and usually improves the analysis results. The BEGe2830 detector used in this study had an energy resolution good enough to allow the highly overlapping 100-keV region in plutonium spectra to be analyzed by the established isotopic codes MGA and FRAM. A series of measurements on sealed plutonium sources was performed including spectra taken with different absorbers and with the samples placed inside a standard 208 l drum filled with various matrix materials. These measurements were used to investigate several possible scenarios for Falcon use including safeguards measurements as well as the waste analysis in the field.