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Pu300: A Tool for Measurement of Plutonium Age for Arms Control Transparency via Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy.

DE2001756911

Publication Date	2000
Personal Author	Archer, D. E.; Luke, S. J.; Parker, W.
Page Count	5
Abstract	Pu300 has particular application in the Arms Control Transparency arena, where very sensitive material is often the subject of tests and measurements. In Arms Control Transparency projects, we attempt to measure attributes of material removed from a nuclear weapon without revealing sensitive information about the material. The measured attribute can either be reported directly or compared against a threshold value. The set of attributes that are measured can be used as a fingerprint for the material. One such attribute for plutonium is material age. Age, in this sense, is defined as the amount of time that has passed since americium separation. The Pu300 system consists of a coaxial HPGe detector and a Canberra Inspector multichannel analyzer. The Inspector allows the high resolution spectral information to be limited by adjusting upper and lower level discriminators so only the information between 330keV and 350keV is collected. The fits of the peaks in the gamma-ray spectrum are fed into a physics code to give an age of the material measured. The physics code is based on the buildup of (sup 241)Am from the decay of (sup 241)Pu.
Keywords	Arms control Plutonium Spectroscopy Chemistry Nuclear weapons
Source Agency	Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee
Corporate Authors	Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA.; Department of Energy, Washington, DC.
Document Type	Conference Proceedings
NTIS Issue Number	200124
Contract Number	W-7405-ENG-48

Pu300: A Tool for Measurement of Plutonium Age for Arms Control Transparency via Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy.

Pu300: A Tool for Measurement of Plutonium Age for Arms Control Transparency via Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy.
DE2001756911

Publication Date	2000
Personal Author	Archer, D. E.; Luke, S. J.; Parker, W.
Page Count	5
Abstract	Pu300 has particular application in the Arms Control Transparency arena, where very sensitive material is often the subject of tests and measurements. In Arms Control Transparency projects, we attempt to measure attributes of material removed from a nuclear weapon without revealing sensitive information about the material. The measured attribute can either be reported directly or compared against a threshold value. The set of attributes that are measured can be used as a fingerprint for the material. One such attribute for plutonium is material age. Age, in this sense, is defined as the amount of time that has passed since americium separation. The Pu300 system consists of a coaxial HPGe detector and a Canberra Inspector multichannel analyzer. The Inspector allows the high resolution spectral information to be limited by adjusting upper and lower level discriminators so only the information between 330keV and 350keV is collected. The fits of the peaks in the gamma-ray spectrum are fed into a physics code to give an age of the material measured. The physics code is based on the buildup of (sup 241)Am from the decay of (sup 241)Pu.
Keywords	Arms control Plutonium Spectroscopy Chemistry Nuclear weapons
Source Agency	Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee
Corporate Authors	Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA.; Department of Energy, Washington, DC.
Document Type	Conference Proceedings
NTIS Issue Number	200124
Contract Number	W-7405-ENG-48