Development of a method for the determination of spontaneous fission nuclides in irradiated fuel and applicability to Pu quantification in fuel debris by dual time neutron measurements

Nagatani, Taketeru ; Kosuge, Yoshihiro*; Sagara, Hiroshi*; Nakaguki, Sho; Nomi, Takayoshi ; Okumura, Keisuke 

This paper provides an overview of plutonium quantification in irradiated fuel including fuel debris at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants, named Dual Time Measurement (DTM) method. Spontaneous fission nuclides in irradiated fuel decrease exponentially with the passage of time according to the mainly half-life of Cm-244 (half-life of about 18.11 years). By measuring neutrons two times with long time intervals, Pu-240 effective mass (half-life of about 6,500 years) and Cm-244 mass can be quantified. Pu mass can be quantified by utilizing the correlation between ratio of Cm-244/ Pu-240 effective mass and Pu/ Pu-240 effective mass. The applicability of DTM method was evaluated numerically. The results show that long time interval was required to reduce the random errors. In the case that the interval between the first and second measurements is 32 years, Pu-240 effective mass and Pu can be quantified with uncertainties of 10-50% depending on the presence of water in storage canister and the burnup condition of irradiated fuel including the mixture of several burnup compositions in fuel debris.