Nondestructive assay

NDA unattended mode Instruments permanently installed, possibly combined with remote monitoring via satellites or other communication means 

NDA attended mode Instruments kept at the facility or hand-carried/shipped by the inspector 

Nuclear material sample DA samples taken at the facility and shipped to an analytical laboratory for elemental and isotopic assay of fissile element 

Environmental sampling Environmental samples, mainly swipes taken from inside or outside surfaces at facilities or any other location, analyzed in specialized laboratories for signatures of potential undeclared activities 

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The post-bombardment processing of the activated sample may follow either a nondestructive assay of the radioactivity in the sample (gamma-ray scintillation spectrometry is used most often for this) or a chemical processing of the sample prior to the radioactivity assay. Techniques involving either precipitation, electrodeposition. solvent extraction, and ion exchange or some combination of these form the basts of the radio-chemical separation techniques used in activation analysis. 

C26.10 Cl 133-96 Standard Test Method for Nondestructive Assay of Special Nuclear Material in Low Density Scrap and Waste by Segmented Passive Gamma-Ray Scan... 

C26.10 0316-95 Standard Test Method for Nondestructive Assay of Nuclear Material in Scrap and Waste by Passive-Active Neutron Counting Using a Cf-252 Shuffler... 

The operator-declared data and the measurement results, obtained for the inspection samples, are stored in the inspectorate in a central operator-inspector database where they can be accessed for subsequent evaluations (IAEA 2004). This database also contains the results of verification measurements by nondestructive assay (NDA) methods. 

Nondestructive assay (NDA) for safeguards describes analytical techniques to measure, check, and verify the amount of nuclear material or of the elemental or isotopic concentration of an item without producing significant physical or chemical changes in the item. It allows inspectors to determine both the quantity and composition of nuclear material without ever sampling it directly. Ultimately, NDA techniques provide for the independent verification of the total amount of nuclear material held at a nuclear facility. The main nuclear materials of interest are uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu). Usually, no single measurement method can... 

Booth L, Gillespie B, Seaman G (1997) In 5th nondestructive assay/nondestructive examination waste characterization conference, Salt Lake City Bortels G (1991) Status of high-resolution alpha-particle spectrometry using Si detectors, EUR-1368613. In Annual symposium on safeguards and nuclear material management, Avignon, France, 14-16 May, pp 159-163(745 pp)... 

CrltlcaMty Consideration In the Nondestructive Assay of Nuclear Material, D. . Smith, R. A. Forster, M. M. Thorpe (LASL)... 

Process Inventory Control. Spurred by the requirements for safeguarding materials, various techniques (e.g., in-line monitors, tracer techniques, and methods of nondestructive assay) are being developed to promote accurate measurement of the quantity of fissile materials in a process. These developments will provide a basis for future in-line computer systems that will provide a continuous estimate of the fissile inventory in process vessels and forecast the results of process transients and upsets. 

As indicated, the gadolinium concentrations shown in Table I represent the poison requirements assuming no fuel burnup. If a future advancement In nondestructive assay techniques makes possible the accurate determination of fuel burnup, as opposed to calculations based on reactor performance, the gadolinium requirements shown above can then be reduced by a factor of up to 2. 

Safety Qassification of Fire Protection Systems 2007-1 Safety-Related In Situ Nondestructive Assay of Radioactive Materials 2005-1 Nudear Material Packaging... 

In the laboratory, XRF analysis is usually performed in a vacuum chamber or in an atmosphere of an inert gas (like helium) so that low-energy photons are not absorbed by air. In general, the sensitivity of the method increases with the atomic number of the analyte and in solid samples the limit of detection for many elanents is typically in the mg kg" (ppm) range. One advantage of the technique is the ability to perform a nondestructive assay of several elements simultaneously, although the accuracy for quantitative analysis is quite limited. Due to their simplicity and small size, handheld XRF devices are available and can be carried into the field for onsite analysis as described in detail recently (Bosco 2013). 

Before making a decision on the optimal treatment of radioactive waste, it must be characterized. The analytical methods used for assaying HLW are similar to those used for SNF, that is, nondestructive assay based on measurement of the spontaneous ganuna and neutron mission, and in cases where dissolution is possible detailed analysis of the elemental and isotopic composition. 

Lebrun, A. and Bignan, G. (2001). Nondestructive assay of nuclear low-enriched uranium spent fuels for bumup credit application, Nucl. Technol. 135, 216-229. 

The content of uranium in food products cannot usually be determined directly by nondestructive assay (NDA) methods due to the low concentration that is normally present in the sample so that sample preparation is usually necessary. One exception is the use of neutron activation analysis (Zikovsky 2006) to determine the uraninm... 

A novel analytical strategy using laser ablation-sector field-ICP-MS for isotope ratio determination was proposed (Marin et al. 2013). The Nd YAG laser (266 nm) was operated continuously at a low power setting and the beam was defocused so the sample was practically intact after the analysis—almost like nondestructive assay—and the ratio was found to be 16.36 0.15 (good accuracy) for a... 

Reilly, D., Ensslin, N. and Smith, H. (eds) (1991). Passive Nondestructive Assay of Nuclear Materials, NUREG/CR-5550 and LA-UR-90-732, NUREG, Washington, DC. 

Sampson, T.E. (1991). Plutonium isotopic composition by gamma-ray spectroscopy, in Passive Nondestructive Assay... 

Jdmston JB. A simple, nondestructive assay for bound hyaluronan. J Biomed Mater Res 2000 53 188-91. 

Menlove HO and DH Beddingfield. 1995. The Development of He Neutron Detectors for Applications in High Level Gamma-Ray Backgrounds, Lockheed Martin Idaho Technplogies Company, In Proc. Nondestructive Assay Waste Characterization Conference, Salt Lake... 

Stromswold DC, CL Kunz, AJ Peurrung, and PL Reeder. 1998. Remote-Handled TRU Characterization Using a Directional Neutron Detector, Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company, In Proc. 6 Nondestructive Assay Waste Characterization Conference, Salt Lake City, 633-644. 

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