Spent boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel from Dresden I was assayed for total fissile mass, using the active neutron interrogation method. The nondestructive assay (NDA) system used has four Sb-Be sources for interrogation of the fuels; the induced fission neutrons from the fuel are counted by four lead-shielded methane-filled proportional counters biased above the energy of the source neutrons. Spent fuel rods containing 9 kg of heavy metal were chopped into 5-cm segments and loaded into three 1-liter cans. The three cans were assayed in seven combinations of one, two, or three cans, enabling an evaluation of the precision and accuracy of the NDA system for different amounts of fissile material. The fissile mass in each combination was determined by comparing the induced-fission-neutron counts with the counts obtained from a known standard comprising chopped segments of unirradiated Dresden fuel. These masses were compared to the masses determined by chemical analyses of the spent fuel. The results from the nondestructive assays agreed with results from the chemical analyses to within 2 to 3%. Similar agreement was obtained when two combinations of canned spent fuel were used as standards for the nondesctuctive assays. The assay of BWR spent fuel served as a test of the NDA system which was developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the assay of spent liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) fuel subassemblies at the heat-end of a reprocessing plant. Results of previous experiments and calculations reported earlier using simulated LMFBR fuel subassemblies indicated that the NDA system can measure the fissile masses of spent fuel subassemblies to within an accuracy of 3%. Results of the assays of spent BWR fuel reported herein support this conclusion
