Year
1994
Abstract
The Safeguards Technology Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has developed a gamma-ray screening system for use by the Materials Management Section of the Engineering Sciences Division at LLNL for verifying the presence or absence of special nuclear material (SNM) in a sample. This system facilitates the measurements required under the '5610' series of U. S. Department of Energy orders. MMGAM is an intelligent, menu driven software application that runs on a personal computer and requires a precalibrated multi-channel analyzer and HPGe detector. It provides a very quick and easy-to-use means of determining the presence of SNM in a sample. After guiding the operator through a menu driven set-up procedure, the system provides an onscreen GO/NO-GO indication after determining the system calibration status. This system represents advances over earlier used systems in the areas of ease-of use, operator training requirements, and quality assurance. The system records the gamma radiation from a sample using a sequence of measurements involving a background measurement followed immediately by a measurement of the unknown sample. Both spectra are stored and available for analysis or output. In the current application, the presence of 235U, 238U, 239Pu, and 208T1 isotopes are indicated by extracting, from the stored spectra, four energy \"windows\" preset around gamma-ray lines characteristic of the radioactive decay of these nuclides. The system is easily extendible to more complicated problems.