Isotopic analysis of uranium in U3O8 by passive gamma-ray spectrometry
Passive gamma-ray spectrometry was applied to analyze the isotopic composition of uranium in U3O8. Depleted and enriched U3O8 standard reference materials were used to calibrate the system. An independent calibration was performed by standard gamma-ray point sources. U3O8 SRM samples of the 950 series were analyzed. The present results show that the isotopic abundances of 235U in SRMs 950, 950a and 950b are higher by +3.6, +0.9 and +0.9% (relative deviation) than the natural value 0.7200%, while relative precisions were +/-0.4, +/-0.7 and +/-0.3%, respectively.
Nir-El
Y
Soreq Nuclear Research Centre, Yavne, Israel. nirel@ndc.soreq.gov.il