Spectroscopic measurements of L X-rays with a TES microcalorimeter for a non-destructive assay of transuranium elements

Nakamura, Keisuke  ; Morishita, Yuki   ; Takasaki, Koji  ; Maehata, Keisuke*; Sugimoto, Tetsuya*; Kiguchi, Yu*; Iyomoto, Naoko*; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa*

Spectroscopic measurement of L X-ray is one of important techniques for a non-destructive assay of transuranium (TRU) elements because L X-rays of the energy ranging from 10 to 25 keV are emitted following internal conversion after the alpha-decay of TRU elements. For identification of L X-ray peaks of TRU elements, the energy resolution of the detector is required to be lower than 100 eV of the full width at half maximum (FWHM). In this work, a transition-edge-sensor (TES) microcalorimeter was operated for spectroscopic measurements of L X-rays emitted from a Np-237 and Cm-244 source. Typical L X-ray peaks of Pa, U and Pu elements were clearly identified in the obtained energy spectra. The FWHM energy resolution of the TES microcalorimeter was obtained to be 32.7 eV at Pu L alpha1 X-ray peak of 14.28 keV with natural line width of 12.20 eV. We considered a feasibility of a non-destructive assay of TRU elements with experimental L X-ray spectra obtained by the TES microcalorimeter.