Uranium foil neutron activation analysis

Abstract

At the Department of Nuclear Reactors of the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering of the Czech Technical University (FNSPE CTU) in Prague, there is a need to implement a neutron activation analysis as a tool for the separation of uranium foils depending on various 235U and 238U contents. Experiments were carried out on the training reactor VR-1 “Sparrow”, which is operated at the institute mentioned above. The uranium foils were analysed using the neutron activation analysis and gamma-ray spectrometry, and were separated into two groups, the first group contained foils of depleted uranium and the other contained natural uranium foils. The uranium foils can be further used for educational purposes or experimental applications, such as the measurement of neutron spectral indexes, neutron activation analysis of uranium ore, or delayed neutron analysis. The neutron activation analysis has been extended to determine whether foils contain natural or depleted uranium.