Method for processing alpha spectra adapted for measuring plutonium, americium and curium by isotopic dilution

With this method, results to within 1% can be achieved rapidly and without calibration for ratios such as lesser energy peaks/higher energy peaks within the range 0.5 and 1000. It can also be used, in certain conditions, for measuring isotopic ratios such as 244Cm/242Cm in the order of 0.01 to within 2%. This method is very useful for processing complex spectra containing many different elements. It will then be necessary to measure a direct deposit source which by nature leads to less well resolved spectra. The accuracy will be affected but the results will be acceptable most of the time. In this present version, spectra with up to seven peaks can be processed with our programme; this figure is limited only by the size of the memory of the mini-computer used