Advanced Collimators For Verification of the Pu isotopic composition in fresh fuel by high resolution gamma spectrometry

Abstract

IAEA verification of the nuclear material contained in fresh nuclear fuel assemblies is usually based on neutron coincidence counting (NCC). In the case of uranium fuel, active NCC provides the total content of uranium-235 per unit of length which, combined with active length verification, fully supports the verification. In the case of plutonium fuel, passive NCC provides the plutonium-240 equivalent content which needs to be associated with a measurement of the isotopic composition and active length measurement to complete the verification. Plutonium isotopic composition is verified by high resolution gamma spectrometry (HRGS) applied on fresh fuel assemblies assuming all fuel rods are fabricated from the same plutonium batch. For particular verifications when such an assumption cannot be reasonably made, there is a need to optimize the HRGS measurement so that contributions of internal rods to the recorded spectrum are maximized, thus providing equally strong verification of the internal fuel rods. This paper reports on simulation work carried out to design special collimators aimed at reducing the relative contribution of external fuel rods while enhancing the signal recorded from internal rods. Both cases of square lattices (e.g. 17×17 pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel) and hexagonal compact lattices (e.g. BN800 fast neutron reactor (FNR) fuel) have been addressed. In the case of PWR lattices, the relatively large optical path to internal pins compensates for low plutonium concentrations and the large size of the fuel assemblies. A special collimator based on multiple, asymmetrical, vertical slots allows recording a spectrum from internal rods only when needed. In the FNR case, the triangular lattice is much more compact and the optical path to internal rods is very narrow. However, higher plutonium concentration and use of high energy ranges allow the verification of internal rods to be significantly strengthened. Encouraging results from the simulation pave the way to experimental confirmation of feasibility of the multi slot collimator concepts.