A critical evaluation of different isotope correlations for the determination of Pu-242

作者：Alamelu D; Chakraborty Sumana; Aggarwal Suresh K^*

来源：Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2010, 68(12): 2416-2420.

DOI：10.1016/j.apradiso.2010.06.025

• (242)pu
• Isotope correlations
• Gamma spectrometry
• Mass spectrometry

Different correlations are evaluated for the determination of Pu-242 in Pu generated from PHWR reactors with an average burn-up of about 10,000 MWd/TU. It is shown that the correlations involving ratios of Pu isotopes, except for Pu-241, provide data with better confidence compared with those involving the atom% abundance These correlations are also attractive when the decay period of the given sample is not known. In addition, it is shown that instead of using Pu-239 atom% abundance alone (Swinhoe et al, 2010), either Pu-240 atom% or a linear combination of Pu-239 and Pu-240 gives abundance of Pu-242 with better reliability. The uncertainty due to different decay periods also remains unaffected when using the correlation involving both Pu-239 and Pu-240 atom% The present conclusions are based on Pu isotopic composition data from PHWR reactors (Pu-239 65-75%) whereas those reported by other investigators are for PWR and BWR types of reactors.

• 出版日期2010-12