Verification of the quantitative method to measure enrichment of uranium-235 in radioactive waste

It is important for the processing manufacturers of the uranium fuels to determine the quantity of U-235 and the enrichment. This study shows that the U-235 content evaluated from measurement of 186 keV γ rays emitted from U-235 can be corrected by a shielding factor, X_geometry which quantified uneven distribution of U-238. The X_geometry is evaluated from the direct and the scattered γ rays from the 1001 keV emitted from the Pa-234 m. The X_geometry was originally introduced for U-238 measurements. Because U-235 coexists with U-238, the X_geometry is also possible to apply to the U-235 measurements. The experimental study with simulated waste drums demonstrated that the quantification errors of the U-235 content and the enrichment are reduced considering the factor. (author)