Abstract
A set of eleven U atomic emission lines, between 421.099 and 421.460 nm, were characterized for direct enrichment assay of gaseous UF6 samples with laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Several iterative, multivariate nonlinear spectral-fitting algorithms were evaluated for their efficacies to extract the enrichment information from the measured LIBS spectra. Wavelength-dependent weight factors, which take into consideration of the spectral-line position in the fitting model, the determined isotopic ratio, and the isotopic shift of the emission line, are essential for the spectral-fitting model to function adequately. The analytical accuracies and precision were typically within 0.5% in absolute [235U/(235U + 238U)] ratios.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1409-1421 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry |
| Volume | 331 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2022 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Office of Research and Development of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract numbers DE-AC02-05CH11231 at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and DE-AC05-00OR22725 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Nuclear Security Administration’s Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Office of Research and Development | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC05-00OR22725, DE-AC02-05CH11231 |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
Keywords
- Enrichment assay
- Isotopic analysis
- Isotopic shift
- Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy
- Uranium hexafluoride