Laser remote spectroscopy for next generation nuclear fuel, 1; Background and summary

Wakaida, Ikuo  ; Akaoka, Katsuaki ; Oba, Masaki ; Maruyama, Yoichiro; Miyabe, Masabumi   ; Otobe, Haruyoshi  ; Niki, Hideaki*

In the Fast Reactor nuclear fuel cycle system of the next generation, the development and utilization of the low-decontaminated nuclear fuel will be strongly required from the viewpoint of sustainable use of nuclear fuel resources, reduction of the environmental burden, simplification of the reprocessing process and resistance to nuclear proliferation. In JAEA, we are now developing the remote analytical technique for simultaneous measurement of the element, impurity and the isotope ratio by the combination of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and resonance absorption spectroscopy for ablated plume. In this presentation, some topical results on the conventional LIBS of the detection limit of order 100 ppm, double pulse LIBS for higher sensitivity and the performance in isotopic measurement of the detection limit of 0.3 % and the success to detect U in natural uranium, will be described.