The On-Line Application of Electronic Calculators to Nuclear Counting Systems

Abstract

The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, operated by the University of California for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, continues to be active in developing, designing, and building nuclear reactors. The Nondestructive Testing Group has been instrumental in the support of these programs by providing services in the inspection of the reactor components. Nuclear counting systems are applied in many phases of the testing program. Radiation transmission measurements, utilizing many different radiation sources, are applied to the determination of material thickness, density, and composition. Betabackscatter techniques are used in the measurement of coating thickness for many coating and substrate materials. Radiation counting techniques are used for the determination of reactor element fuel loadings. For all of these systems, the digital count information must be related through the use of appropriate standards to the physical characteristics of the material under inspection. The calibration data obtained from the standards can be expressed by means of empirical equations of elementary form. With the advent of the relatively inexpensive programmable electronic desk calculators, the direct, on-line conversion, reduction, and display of the test data became possible. The nuclear counting systems used in the nondestructive testing program employ conventional digital counters and recorders. The primary counters are Beckman/Berkeley EPUT Meters, driving digital printers and/or piper-tape punch units. Wang Laboratories undertook the design and manufacture of an electronic calculating system capable of direct connection to the existing counting equipment.