Review of fuel burnup techniques in U.S

Measurement of fuel burnup and the development of methods for measurement of fuel burnup are performed at numerous industrial and government laboratories. Most of the burnup measurements are associated with fuel development and testing for fast, light water and gas cooled reactors. Development and evaluation of burnup methods are primarily centered in government laboratories. The development work is directed at fast reactor applications, but most of the methods being tested are likely to be useful for light water reactors also. Determination of fission yields from various actinide nuclides continues to be a major activity. Most burnup measurements use a combined heavy element-neodymium-148 method. High resolution gamma spectroscopy is used frequently, both for non-destructive scanning and destructive burnup analysis. Several spectrophotometric methods have been used. The most successful spectrophotometric determination is zirconium for gas cooled reactor fuel. Development work includes better separation techniques and evaluation of new monitors