Possible Improvements in High-Activity Screening Analyses

Donivan Porterfield, Susan Radzinski, and Mary Ann Abeyta

Nuclear Materials Technology Division

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos, NM

The Los Alamos National Laboratory TA-55 Plutonium Facility is the last remaining facility in the DOE Complex for multi-program work on large quantities of actinides. In support of the daily operations of the facility, aqueous samples are screened for alpha activity and relative abundance of plutonium and americium. The activity of these samples ranges up to 100 g Pu/L and may have americium content exceeding 90% of the total alpha activity.

These screening analyses have relied on gas-proportional and gross gamma using NaI(Tl). In the continuing drive to minimize contamination potential, i.e. ALARA and provide better-faster-cheaper service, new approaches for analyzing these samples are being examined.

This presentation will discuss some of these new possible approaches and their advantages/disadvantages.

LAUR-00-3875