Absolute burn-up determination of U₃Si₂-Al irradiated fuel plate with loading 2.96 gU/cm³

Absolute burn up measurement of U₃Si₂-Al irradiated fuel element with loading of 2.96 gU/cm³ with RI-SIE 2 code has been done. The burn up calculation of U₃Si₂-Al irradiated fuel element is based on the content of ¹³⁷Cs, ²³⁵U and ²³⁹Pu isotopes which is obtained by radiochemical analysis after an appropriate separation. The purpose of the separation a monitoring of the fission product (¹³⁷Cs isotope) and the heavy elements (uranium and plutonium) is to get the amount of ²³⁵U isotope accurately. Separation and analysis of ¹³⁷Cs isotope had been done by cation exchange using zeolite Lampung and spectrometer-γ. While the separation both of isotop ²³⁵U and ²³⁹Pu had been done by anion exchange column using Dowex 1 x 8 resin. The effluent of U in the column anion exchanger was eluted by using HNO₃ 8N and the effluent of Pu was eluted by HCl 0.1N + HF 0.036N. Both of isotopes were analyzed by using a spectrometer-α. The analysis result showed that the content of ¹³⁷Cs isotope in U₃Si₂-Al irradiated fuel element was 0.000716 g/g sample, while the content of ²³⁵U, ²³⁹Pu and ²³⁸Pu were 0.032824 g/g sample, 0.000011 g/g sample and 0.000005 g/g sample respectively. The result of measurement ²³⁵U isotope compared with initially content of isotop ²³⁵U (fabrication data) for being used in the absolute burn up measurement. The result of absolute burn up calculation of U₃Si₂-Al irradiated fuel U₃Si₂-Al with loading of 2.96 gU/cm³ with RI-SIE 2 code was 51.69 %. (author)