New generation enrichment monitoring technology for gas centrifuge enrichment plants

We report our progress toward development of new generation on-line enrichment monitoring technology for UF6 gas centrifuge plants based on a transmission source and a NaI spectrometer. We use an X-ray tube with transmission filters instead of a decaying isotopic transmission source to eliminate the costly replacement of this source. The UF6 gas density measurement is based on the energy dependency of the mass attenuation for two characteristic X-ray lines generated by the transmission filters. An analytical expression for the UF6 density is derived and criteria for the selection of transmission energies are discussed. Because of the differential method of measurement, the UF6 gas density does not depend on the intensity of the X-ray source. We describe a design of a sealed UF6 gas test stand for development testing and calibration of various on-line enrichment monitoring instruments. The sealed source is intended to replace a UF6 gaseous loop currently used for calibration.