Method for measuring oxidation percentage of metal plutonium

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for measuring the oxidation percentage of metal plutonium. The method comprises the following steps of: measuring the 871keV characteristic gamma-ray peak position counting value of the oxidized metal plutonium sample generated by the 17O(alpha, alpha'gamma)17O(871keV) and 14N(alpha, p)17O(871keV) reaction under the natural radiation condition; enhancing the 17O(n, n'gamma)17O(871keV) reaction capacity of the tested metal plutonium sample by the 17O(n, n'gamma)17O(871keV) reaction and through external neutron source irradiation; measuring the 871keV characteristic gamma-ray peak position counting value of the oxidized metal plutonium sample under the condition of external neutron source irradiation; and subtracting the 871keV characteristic gamma-ray peakposition counting value measured under the natural radiation condition from the 871keV characteristic gamma-ray peak position counting value measured under the condition of external neutron source irradiation to obtain the 871keV characteristic gamma-ray peak position counting value, contributed by 17O, of the oxidized metal plutonium sample. By the method for measuring the oxidation degree of the metal plutonium, 871keV characteristic gamma-ray interference generated by 14N(alpha, p)17O(871keV) reaction can be effectively avoided, and the oxidation degree of the metal plutonium sample to be tested can be quantitatively analyzed.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a method for measuring the degree of oxidation of metallic plutonium, especially a method for measuring the percentage of plutonium oxide in metallic plutonium. Background technique [0002] Plutonium is an important metal element, and its various isotopes have very important applications in military, economic and other fields. At room temperature, exposed metal plutonium will react with oxygen in the air to form plutonium oxides. The chemical reaction is : [0003] Pu(s)+O 2 (g)→PuO 2 (s)+ΔH (ΔH is -1056kJ / mol) [0004] Due to the easy oxidation of metal plutonium in the air, even if the surface coating (nickel-copper-nickel coating) technology is adopted, it cannot absolutely guarantee that metal plutonium will not be oxidized. Therefore, it becomes important to distinguish and determine the oxidation degree of plutonium. [0005] Oxygen has many isotopes, but there are only three stable isotopes: 16 O, 17 O, 18 O, it...

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Problems solved by technology

[0015] However, the above-mentioned article ignores the following problem, that is, due to 14 N(α,p) 17 The O(871keV) reaction can also produce the characteristic γ-rays of 871keV, and in the production process of metal plutonium materials, N element will inevitably be introduced, 14 The abundance of N will also be higher, so in the measured gamma rays, 14 N(α,p) 17 The gamma rays produced by the O(871keV) reaction are even stronger than 17 O(α,α′γ) 17 O(871keV) is higher, so directly use 17 The 871keV characteristic gamma rays of O determine that the existence of plutonium oxide is susceptible to 14 N interference

[0016] For example, in the article "The 871keV gamma ray from 17 O and the identification of plutonium oxide" and the article "THE 870.8keV GAMMA RAY FORMPuO 2 After analysis in ", it is believed that only relying on the characteristic gamma rays of 871keV proves that there is a large error in plutonium oxide, and directly using 17 The 871keV characteristic gamma rays of O are also difficult to quantitatively analyze the presence of plutonium oxide

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