CHARACTERIZATION OF THE Pu-BEARING PERLA STANDARD

The JRC of the CEC has set up in its Ispra Establishment a Safeguards-oriented calibration and training laboratory called PERLA (PERformance LAboratory). Its scope is to help bridge the gap between laboratory development of instruments and techniques and their field use by Safeguards in- spectors . The laboratory already has many facilities operative and is equipped with Pu and U bearing standard samples, which were procured in such a way to resemble as closely as possible materials actually encountered in the fabrication plants. The characterization phase of the Pu PERLA stan- dards has now almost finished and it is reported in this paper. The following standard samples were produced for PERLA: - PuO2 samples, originating from three different batches (burn-ups) and containing g to kg quan- tities ; - MOX samples, originating from five different batches (with varying U/Pu ratios) in the form of powder, pellets and pin. From the 8 above batches a total of 80 DA samples was taken following accurate procedures described in the paper and analyzed by three labo- ratories, namely IAEA-SAL, ALKEM and SCK/CEN. The analytical schemes required the isotopic composition of Pu (and U for MOX samples), Pu and U elemental concentration, 241Am an