Lav Tandon

The urgent requirement for new radioanalytical certified reference materials for nuclear safeguards, forensics, and consequence management

A multi-agency workshop was held from 25 to 27 August 2009, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to identify and prioritize the development of radioanalytical Certified Reference Materials (CRMs, generally provided by National Metrology Institutes; Standard Reference Materials, a CRM issued by NIST) for field and laboratory nuclear measurement methods to be used to assess the consequences of a domestic or international nuclear event. Without these CRMs, policy makers concerned with detecting proliferation and trafficking of nuclear materials, attribution and retribution following a nuclear event, and public health consequences of a nuclear event would have difficulty making decisions based on analytical data that would stand up to scientific, public, and judicial scrutiny. The workshop concentrated on three areas: post-incident Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) nuclear forensics, safeguard materials characterization, and consequence management for an IND or a Radiological Dispersion Device detonation scenario. The workshop identified specific CRM requirements to fulfill the needs for these three measurement communities. Of highest priority are: (1) isotope dilution mass spectrometry standards, specifically 233U, 236gNp, 244Pu, and 243Am, used for quantitative analysis of the respective elements that are in critically short supply and in urgent need of replenishment and certification; (2) CRMs that are urgently needed for post-detonation debris analysis of actinides and fission fragments, and (3) CRMs used for destructive and nondestructive analyses for safeguards measurements, and radioisotopes of interest in environmental matrices.

Validation of reference materials for uranium radiochronometry in the frame of nuclear forensic investigations

The results of a joint effort by expert nuclear forensic laboratories in the area of age dating of uranium, i.e. the elapsed time since the last chemical purification of the material are presented and discussed. Completely separated uranium materials of known production date were distributed among the laboratories, and the samples were dated according to routine laboratory procedures by the measurement of the (230)Th/(234)U ratio. The measurement results were in good agreement with the known production date showing that the concept for preparing uranium age dating reference material based on complete separation is valid. Detailed knowledge of the laboratory procedures used for uranium age dating allows the identification of possible improvements in the current protocols and the development of improved practice in the future. The availability of age dating reference materials as well as the evolvement of the age dating best-practice protocol will increase the relevance and applicability of age dating as part of the tool-kit available for nuclear forensic investigations.

Elemental composition in sealed plutonium-beryllium neutron sources.

Five sealed plutonium-beryllium (PuBe) neutron sources from various manufacturers were disassembled. Destructive chemical analyses for recovered PuBe materials were conducted for disposition purposes. A dissolution method for PuBe alloys was developed for quantitative plutonium (Pu) and beryllium (Be) assay. Quantitation of Be and trace elements was performed using plasma based spectroscopic instruments, namely inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Pu assay was accomplished by an electrochemical method. Variations in trace elemental contents among the five PuBe sources are discussed.

A lexicon for consistent description of material images for nuclear forensics

We have developed a lexicon to consistently and objectively describe morphological features observed in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Here we provide the lexicon flowsheet, define the terminology, and detail step-by-step characterization of SEM images collected from a set of actinide oxides. We conclude that this lexicon can be used to characterize texture and surface features, particle structure and size, and grain boundaries in an image of a material. The lexicon should be applicable to characterization of images collected from other techniques for measuring morphology, as well. LA-UR-15-26746

Forensic investigation of plutonium metal: a case study of CRM 126

In this study, a certified plutonium metal reference material (CRM 126) with a known production history is examined using analytical methods that are commonly employed in nuclear forensics for provenancing and attribution. The measured plutonium isotopic composition and actinide assay are consistent with values reported on the reference material certificate. Model ages from U/Pu and Am/Pu chronometers agree with the documented production timeline. The results confirm the utility of these analytical methods and highlight the importance of a holistic approach for forensic study of unknown materials.

Plutonium oxalate precipitation for trace elemental determination in plutonium materials

An analytical chemistry method has been developed that removes the plutonium (Pu) matrix from the dissolved Pu metal or oxide solution prior to the determination of trace impurities that are present in the metal or oxide. In this study, a Pu oxalate approach was employed to separate Pu from trace impurities. After Pu(III) was precipitated with oxalic acid and separated by centrifugation, trace elemental constituents in the supernatant were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy with minimized spectral interferences from the sample matrix.

The analysis of uranium-232: comparison of radiochemical techniques and an improved method by alpha spectrometry

Uranium-232 is an isotope of interest for nuclear forensic studies because it can provide information on the irradiation history of a sample of uranium. The isotope is formed in uranium materials through several pathways and is typically found at ultra-trace levels (usually ng/g or smaller) in typical uranium materials. The low abundance of this isotope in irradiated materials makes it very difficult to measure accurately and precisely. Many different methods have been proposed for the analysis of 232U using radiochemical methods including alpha and gamma spectrometry. In this paper, literature methods will be discussed and an improved method using alpha spectrometry will be presented. Alpha spectrometry offers a direct analysis technique for measuring 232U, with few interferences that can be removed via separations. Results from our improved method will be presented and compared to results obtained from a non-destructive gamma spectrometry method that utilizes an indirect measurement. LA-UR-12-20186.

Critical need for plutonium and uranium isotopic standards with lower uncertainties

Certified reference materials (CRMs) traceable to national and international safeguards database are a critical prerequisite for ensuring that nuclear measurement systems are free of systematic biases. CRMs are used to validate measurement processes associated with nuclear analytical laboratories. Diverse areas related to nuclear safeguards are impacted by the quality of the CRM standards available to analytical laboratories. These include: nuclear forensics, radio-chronometry, national and international safeguards, stockpile stewardship, nuclear weapons infrastructure and nonproliferation, fuel fabrication, waste processing, radiation protection, and environmental monitoring. For the past three decades the nuclear community is confronted with the strange situation that improvements in measurement data quality resulting from the improved accuracy and precision achievable with modern multi-collector mass spectrometers could not be fully exploited due to large uncertainties associated with CRMs available from New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) that are used for instrument calibration and measurement control. Similar conditions prevail for both plutonium and uranium isotopic standards and for impurity element standards in uranium matrices. Herein, the current status of U and Pu isotopic standards available from NBL is reviewed. Critical areas requiring improvement in the quality of the nuclear standards to enable the U. S. and international safeguards community to utilize the full potential of modern multi-collector mass spectrometer instruments are highlighted.

Interactive Image Quantification Tools in Nuclear Material Forensics

Morphological and microstructural features visible in microscopy images of nuclear materials can give information about the processing history of a nuclear material. Extraction of these attributes currently requires a subject matter expert in both microscopy and nuclear material production processes, and is a time consuming, and at least partially manual task, often involving multiple software applications. One of the primary goals of computer vision is to find ways to extract and encode domain knowledge associated with imagery so that parts of this process can be automated. In this paper we describe a user-in-the-loop approach to the problem which attempts to both improve the efficiency of domain experts during image quantification as well as capture their domain knowledge over time. This is accomplished through a sophisticated user-monitoring system that accumulates user-computer interactions as users exploit their imagery. We provide a detailed discussion of the interactive feature extraction and segmentation tools we have developed and describe our initial results in exploiting the recorded user-computer interactions to improve user productivity over time.

The application of radiochronometry during the 4th collaborative materials exercise of the nuclear forensics international technical working group (ITWG)

In a recent international exercise, 10 international nuclear forensics laboratories successfully performed radiochronometry on three low enriched uranium oxide samples, providing 12 analytical results using three different parent-daughter pairs serving as independent chronometers. The vast majority of the results were consistent with one another and consistent with the known processing history of the materials. In general, for these particular samples, mass spectrometry gave more accurate and more precise analytical results than decay counting measurements. In addition, the concordance of the 235U–231Pa and 234U–230Th chronometers confirmed the validity of the age dating assumptions, increasing confidence in the resulting conclusions.