Nuclear Archeology for CANDU Power Reactors

The goal of this work is the development of so-called 'nuclear archeology' techniques to predict the irradiation history of both fuel-related and non-fuel-related materials irradiated in the CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) family of nuclear reactors. In this application to CANDU-type reactors, two different scenarios for the collection of the appropriate data for use in these procedures will be assumed: the first scenario is the removal of the pressure tubes, calandria tubes, or fuel cladding and destructive analysis of the activation products contained in these structural materials; the second scenario is the nondestructive analysis (NDA) of the same hardware items via high-resolution gamma ray scans. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages for each approach; however, the NDA approach is the central focus of this work because of its simplicity and lack of invasiveness. The use of these techniques along with a previously developed inverse capability is expected to allow for the prediction of average flux levels and irradiation time, and the total fluence for samples where the values of selected isotopes can be measured.