Language endangerment and language documentation in Africa

Non peer reviewe

COMPUCEA: a high-performance analysis procedure for timely on-site uranium accountancy verification in LEU fuel fabrication plants

COMPUCEA (Combined Procedure for Uranium Concentration and Enrichment Assay) is used for on-site analytical measurements in support of joint Euratom- IAEA inspections during physical inventory verification (PIV) campaigns in European Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel fabrication plants. The analytical technique involves the accurate determination of the uranium element content by energy-dispersive X-ray absorption edge spectrometry ( L-edge densitometry) and of the 235U enrichment by gamma spectrometry with a LaBr3(Ce) detector. For evaluation of the LaBr3 spectra a modified version of the NaIGEM code is used, which has recently been adapted to handle the presence of reprocessed uranium. This paper describes the technique, setup and calibration procedure of the instrument. Results from PIV campaigns in 2007 and 2008 are presented, which demonstrate the performance of the technique. First results obtained with a sandwich detector configuration for enhanced detection efficiency of the passive gamma spectrometry are discussed.JRC.E.7-Nuclear Safeguards and Forensic