There is nearly always some mismatch between the physical properties of items containing nuclear material and standards used to calibrate the assay method. Physical properties include the density and heterogeneity of the item's nonnuclear material and the type of interfering species, such as...

Background Thousands of shipments of radioisotopes developed in the United States (U.S.) are transported domestically and internationally for medical and industrial applications, including to partner laboratories in European Union (EU) countries. Over the past five years, the Environmental...

When measurements are obtained for the purpose of material accountability, any deviation of averages from true value is one of great concern. The key term here is true value. Any deviation of averages from their true value will result in inventory discrepancies. It will not matter that the bias...

A conceptual management framework is developed and applied in a science and engineering organization located within a non-profit, public institution. The goal of this research is to select a set of projects whose combined contributions to the organization`s strategic interests satisfy sponsor...

The first phase of the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program (Program)--management strategy selection--consists of several program elements: Technology Assessment, Engineering Analysis, Cost Analysis, and preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Cost Analysis will...

The Plutonium Facility, TA-55, at Los Alamos National Laboratory is currently producing NDA calibration standards used by various laboratories in the DOE complex. These NIST traceable standards have been produced to calibrate NDA instruments for accountability measurements used for resolving...

Nondestructive assay (NDA) of special nuclear material (SNM) involves a variety of measurement techniques, instruments, and nuclear materials. High-quality measurements require well-characterized SNM standards that represent the expected range of mass, chemical composition, and physical...

Two Canberra-built passive-active {sup 252}Cf shufflers of Los Alamos hardware and software design have been installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, one at the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Facility at TA-3 and the other at the Plutonium Facility (PF-4) at TA-55. These instruments...

Analysis of the data obtained in one year of plutonium accounting at Los Alamos reveals significant complexity. Much of this complexity arises from the complexity of the processes themselves. Additional complexity is induced by errors in the data entry process. It is important to note that there...

The two new shufflers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have been used on uranium inventory items that could not be previously verified or confirmed because of the lack of a suitable assay instrument. A third shufflers at the Westinghouse Savannah River Site (SRS) is currently measuring...