International Workshop on Gamma Spectrometry Analysis Codes for U and Pu Isotopics

November 3 - 7, 2008
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

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The Oak Ridge National Laboratory will host a joint INMM/ESARDA workshop "International Workshop on Gamma Spectrometry Analysis Codes for U and Pu Isotopics" November 3 - 7, 2008. The objective of the workshop is to provide an international forum for code developers, commercial distributors and end users to interface and develop solutions to many of the programmatic and technical issues associated with each of the codes capabilities, limitations, applicability, sustainability, and version control. The workshop will also provide an international forum for discussing development of an internationally accepted standard test method for such codes.

The workshop will provide end users with an opportunity to interact with many of the original code developers and current commercial distributors in a hands-on, laboratory environment to better understand the application and limitations of the various codes. It will also provide a unique opportunity for code developers and commercial distributors to interact with the user community to better understand the challenges that the user community faces when utilizing the codes in a laboratory or field environment. The workshop will include lectures from each of the various code developers. It will also include presentations from many end users. All workshop participants will actively participate in gamma spectroscopy system operation, data collection, data evaluation and error propagation.

Who Should Attend:

Code developers
Code suppliers
National inspectors
International inspectors
Regulators
Nuclear fuel cycle process personnel
Safeguards managers
Equipment developers
Material control and accounting personnel

Featured codes included FRAM, MGA, MGAU, NaIGEM, WinU235, WinUF6 and U235HI. Other codes may also be included.

Overview
In November 2005 an International Workshop on "Gamma Evaluation Codes for Plutonium and Uranium Isotope Abundance Measurements by High-Resolution Gamma Spectrometry: Current Status and Future Challenges" was held in Karlsruhe, Germany. This workshop was attended by many of the primary experts in gamma spectrometry techniques including many of the initial code developers. In parallel, a separate initiative was conducted under the framework of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Brazilian Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) bilateral safeguards cooperation agreement. This initiative, referred to as Action Sheet 14 (AS 14), established a regional Isotopic Measurements Working Group that focused on evaluating gamma evaluation codes used for determining the 235U enrichment of uranium in various forms.

Therefore it is considered by those involved in the development, control and use of these gamma evaluation codes that we should endeavor to continue the positive experience of AS14, enlarging the participation to the international community, broadening the scope in order to include plutonium isotopic measurements in order to establish a working group (WG) that would respond to the needs expressed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, EURATOM, ABACC and other domestic nuclear material safeguards programs.

Since AS14 already includes many of the American subject matter experts, it was quite straightforward to look at ESARDA, and in particular to the NDA working group as the catalyst for the institution of this dedicated WG. The proposal to launch the institution of an international Working Group on Gamma Spectrometry Techniques for U/Pu Isotopics was decided in a meeting organized in Aix-en-Provence on the 21st of May 2007.

Scope of the International Working Group
The scope of the international WG is to provide a forum for exchange of information, technical developments, validation and testing of gamma spectroscopy techniques used to determine the isotopic composition of uranium and plutonium samples in nuclear safeguards applications. Specifically, but not exclusively, it will address issues related to gamma evaluation codes, such as their applicability, capability and limitations, standardization, sustainability and version control.

For more information contact:

Alena Zhernosek
(865) 241-2552
zhernosekav@ornl.gov

ESARDA