Review of monitoring instruments for transuranics in fuel fabrication and reprocessing plants. A progress report to the physical and technological programs, Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research, U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration

A comprehensive review of the monitoring instruments for transuranic elements released from nuclear fuel fabrication and reprocessing plants has been compiled. The extent of routine operational releases has been reviewed for the light water reactor (LWR) fuel cycle (including plutonium recycle), the breeder reactor fuel cycle, and the high-temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) fuel cycle. The stack monitoring instrumentation presently in use at the various fabrication and reprocessing plants around the country is discussed. Sampling difficulties and the effectiveness of the entire sampling system are reviewed, as are the measurement problems for alpha-emitting, long-lived, transuranic aerosols, 129I, 106Ru, and tritium oxide. The potential problems in the HTGR fuel cycle such as the measurement of releases of alpha-emitting aerosols and of gaseous releases of 220Rn and 14C are also considered