Year
2011
Abstract
The imaging performance of a mechanically cooled, portable, coded-aperture, gamma-ray imager designed for international safeguards inspections at uranium enrichment plants has been characterized. The imaging performance of the instrument was quantified by calculating the signal-to-noise ratio as a function of the source distance, position, enrichment, and acquisition time. Based on the expected international safeguards application, importance has been given to the use of uranium standards enriched to less than five percent at source-detector distances greater than two and one-half meters. The implications of the results for the utility of the instrument for safeguards work are discussed.