Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2004 International RERTR Meeting

BURN-UP MEASUREMENTS OF SPENT FUEL USING GAMMA SPECTROMETRY TECHNIQUE

C. Pereda, C. Henríquez, J. Klein and J. Medel
Comisión Chilena de Energía Nuclear
Amunátegui 95, Santiago, Chile
 

ABSTRACT
 

Burn-up results obtained for HEU (45% of 235U) fuel assemblies of the RECH-1 Research Reactor using gamma spectrometry technique are presented. The spectra were got from an in-pool facility built in the reactor to be mainly used to measure the burn-up of irradiated fuel assemblies with short cooling time, where 95Zr is being evaluated as possible fission monitor. A program to measure all spent fuel assemblies of the RECH-1 reactor was initiated in the frame of the Regional Project RLA/4/018: “Management of Spent Fuel from Research Reactors”. The results presented here were obtained from HEU spent fuel assemblies with cooling time greater than 100 days and 137Cs was used as fission monitor. The efficiency of the in-pool system was determined using a slightly burnt experimental fuel assembly, which has one fuel plate (one of the outer plates) and the rest are dummy plates. An average burn-up of 2.8% of 235U was previously measured for the experimental fuel assembly utilizing a facility installed in a hot cell and 137Cs was used as monitor.

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