Year
2012
Abstract
Holdup Measurement System-4 (HMS-4) is a portable, ruggedized nondestructive assay system used to detect and quantify special nuclear material “held- up” in uranium and plutonium process systems. For safeguards, quantities determined using HMS-4 are most frequently applied to estimating Material Unaccounted For (MUF) within a facility’s inventory balance. HMS-4also is used to determine quantities to ensure criticality safety. Its components include a shielded, gain-stabilized* NaI (Tl) detector, a multi-channel analyzer (MCA), and a hand-held microcomputer with built-in bar-code reader used as the field measurement controller. Gamma- ray spectra are acquired, stored, and analyzed from the HMS-4 software that resides on the controller. At the end of a work shift, the controller is docked with a personal computer for conducting additional analysis of the data, such as the gram quantities of SNM, and archiving. As nuclear instrumentation and communications technology evolves, obtaining platforms on which HMS-4 runs has become an issue. Compatible mobile computers used as HMS-4 controllers now are obsolete and newer MCAs (currently available, offering greater versatility) currently are not supported by HMS-4. HMS-4software must be run on a Windows XP machine. An HMS-4 system has been introduced recently that extends the use of HMS-4 to mobile computers using the Windows Mobile 5 operating system. However, this system still supports only the legacy MCAs. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has formulated a development plan for a new system that extends the HMS concepts to incorporate the new technologies and operating platforms. The new system will build upon an already capable mobile and easy-to-use platform to accommodate the latest developments and new technologies in hardware, modeling and spectral data analysis algorithms. This student paper presents activities conducted to advance development of the new system, specifically the software/firmware compatibility issues which are being addressed and software verification and validation utilities which are being developed.