A critical evaluation of different isotope correlations for the determination of (242)Pu.
Different correlations are evaluated for the determination of (242)Pu in Pu generated from PHWR reactors with an average burn-up of about 10,000 MWd/TU. It is shown that the correlations involving ratios of Pu isotopes, except for (241)Pu, provide data with better confidence compared with those involving the atom% abundance. These correlations are also attractive when the decay period of the given sample is not known. In addition, it is shown that instead of using (239)Pu atom% abundance alone (Swinhoe et al., 2010), either (240)Pu atom% or a linear combination of (239)Pu and (240)Pu gives abundance of (242)Pu with better reliability. The uncertainty due to different decay periods also remains unaffected when using the correlation involving both (239)Pu and (240)Pu atom%. The present conclusions are based on Pu isotopic composition data from PHWR reactors ((239)Pu 65-75%) whereas those reported by other investigators are for PWR and BWR types of reactors.
Alamelu
D
D
Fuel Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085, India.
Chakraborty
Sumana
S
Aggarwal
Suresh K
SK