Spent fuel temperature and age determination from the analysis of uranium and plutonium isotopics

The capability to determine the age (time since irradiation) of spent fuel can be useful for verification and safeguards. While the age of spent fuel can be determined based on measurements of short-lived fission products, these measurements are not routinely done nor generally reported. As an alternative, age can also be determined if the uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) isotopic values are available. Uranium isotopics are not strongly affected by fuel temperature, and bumup is determined from the 235U and 236U isotopic values. Age is calculated after estimating the 241Pu at the end of irradiation while accounting for the fuel temperature, which is determined from 239Pu or 240Pu. Burnup and age determinations are calibrated to reactor models that provide uranium and plutonium isotopics over the range of fuel irradiation. The reactor model must contain sufficient fidelity on details of the reactor type, fuel burnup, irradiation history, initial fuel enrichment and fuel temperature to obtain accurate isotopic calculations. If the latter four are unknown, they can be derived from the uranium and plutonium isotopics. Fuel temperature has a significant affect on the production of plutonium isotopics; therefore, one group cross section reactor models, such as ORIGEN, cannot be used for these calculations. Multi-group cross section set codes, such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory's TRITON code, must be used.