Time correlation analyzer for non destructive plutonium assay

A pulse to pulse time correlation analysis of incoming detected neutron pulse trains is developed for monitoring plutonium contaminated solid waste streams. The time distributions of two successive pulses of the first, second, ... order are measured by a minicomputer system. Theoretical predictions are fitted to the measured time distributions by varying the detected neutron multiplicity parameters. The predictions are based on probability calculations and are developed for the case where fission neutrons decay in the fundamental mode (described by a single exponential function). This method allows the complete reconstruction of the detected neutron multiplicity parameters