Abstract
Noble gas stable isotope abundance measurements may provide a tool for detecting reprocessing activities of nuclear fuels. An approach has been made by carrying out blending calculations of released fission xenon and krypton in air using the Isotope Mixture Programs which have been developed at the IRMM. After having obtained a reliable approximation to the expected range of the isotope ratios in the blends and the respective detection limit thereof through these calculations, the potential application of ultra-accurate measurements of the isotopic composition of anthropogenic and atmospheric noble gases is taken into consideration. Also the important role of radiometric measurements of 85Kr and 133Xe for the detection of nuclear fuel reprocessing is taken into account. The information provided by such activity measurements is limited, therefore a method to calculate the initial isotopic composition of released fission noble gases, through measuring of their atmospheric mixing ratio, is presented and discussed. Highly accurate stable isotopic measurements of atmospheric noble gases might provide more detailed information on the “history” of the reprocessed nuclear fuel. Therefore they could serve, in combination with radiometric detection techniques, as an excellent tool for the identification of reprocessing activities.
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