Independent Verification of Research Reactor Operation (Analysis of the Georgian IRT-M Reactor by the Isotope Ratio Method)

ecurity (NA-24) develops technologies to aid in implementing international nuclear safeguards. The Isotope Ratio Method (IRM) was successfully developed in 2005 2007 by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory !\"# $ %&'*+/ % !technology to verify the declared operation of water-moderated research reactors, independent of spent fuel inventory. IRM estimates the energy produced over the operating lifetime of a fission reactor by measuring the ratios of the isotopes of trace impurity elements in non-fuel reactor components. Trace impurities are present at the parts-per-billion level or higher, and their isotopes are transmuted by neutron irradiation in a predictable manner. Extremely sensitive mass-spectrometric methods currently available allow accurate and precise measurements of the altered impurity element isotope ratios. Standard reactor % %% /% $; &