Fractionation of UF6 and daughter progeny in storage cylinders from external heating
Abstract Uranium hexafluoride (UF 6 ) is a significant concern for material accountancy and verification in the international safeguards community. Verification of the contents of UF 6 cylinders is generally attempted with gamma spectroscopy but the current methods assume a uniform, homogeneous UF 6 mass distribution within the cylinder. In this work, it was found experimentally and confirmed via modeling, that under an external heat load (the sun), the UF 6 and its daughter products undergo fractionation in the cylinder. This fractionation of the UF 6 and daughter products can cause an errant measurement of the enrichment of the cylinder when using the current verification methods.
Authors
- Keith C. Bledsoe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6627-5344)
- Brandon Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2065-1647)
- Glenn A. Fugate (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7100-690X)
- Douglas E. Peplow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9208-1914)
- Paul Rose (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9611-5085)
- Nate See (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7858-1202)
Institutions
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry
- Published
- 2024-10-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-024-09743-9
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Nuclear reactor physics and engineering
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.30
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation