Development and comparison of two high accuracy methods for uranium concentration in nuclear fuel: ID-TIMS and K-edge densitometry

Alexandre Quemet (1) , Alexandre Ruas , Eric Esbelin (1) , Vincent Dalier (1) , Cédric Rivier (1)

1 DMRC - Département de recherche sur les procédés pour la mine et le recyclage du combustible

This study compares the two analytical methods for uranium concentration determination with high accuracy in uranium pellet: K-edge densitometer (KED) and the isotope dilution with Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry measurements (ID-TIMS). Both techniques are compared in terms of time, generated radioactive effluent, simplicity, uncertainty estimation and detection limit. ID-TIMS shows lower detection limit and uncertainties than KED. However, the KED analysis time is shorter and generates less effluent. Both techniques were used for metrological analysis of uranium concentration in nuclear materials. The optimization of sample spike mixture isotope ratio for ID-TIMS to decrease uncertainties is also discussed.

Keywords: Uranium concentration; TIMS; K-edge densitometer; isotope dilution

Domains: Analytical chemistry

Alexandre Quemet, Alexandre Ruas, Eric Esbelin, Vincent Dalier, Cédric Rivier. Development and comparison of two high accuracy methods for uranium concentration in nuclear fuel: ID-TIMS and K-edge densitometry. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 2019, 321 (3), pp.997-1004. ⟨10.1007/s10967-019-06670-y⟩. ⟨cea-03470768⟩