Plutonium assaying
US5629525A · kind A · utility
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Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 2, 1994 |
| Grant date | May 13, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 2, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N23/2076
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method determining the plutonium content of a material containing fluorine involves obtaining the mass ratio of plutonium in a compound comprising plutonium and fluorine, particularly plutonium tetrafluoride, to the total plutonium content. The method utilises a high resolution gamma ray spectrometry technique to obtain a count rate in a pair of gamma ray photopeaks. One of the photopeaks has an energy level of 414 keV, resulting from the decay of plutonium-239, and the other photopeak has an energy level of 583 keV, resulting from the decay of an excited sodium-22 nucleus following an (alpha,n) interaction with fluorine.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.