Radiochemical analysis of a sample of mixed uranium–plutonium nitride fuel

Abstract

Radiochemical analysis of a mixed uranium–plutonium nitride (MUPN) fuel sample irradiated in a BOR-60 reactor was performed. The study was made using the set of procedures developed at the Research Institute of Nuclear Reactors for determining the nuclide composition and gravimetric content of U, Pu, Am, Cm, Nd and other fission products, platinum group metals, and transition metals, including nuclear physical methods, atomic emission spectrum analysis, mass spectrometry for determining the nuclide composition, and isotope dilution mass spectrometry for determining the gravimetric content of nuclides with preliminary radio-chemical separation of fractions of elements by ion-exchange, extraction-chromatographic, precipitation, and distillation methods. The MUPN fuel burn-up was determined from the ratio of the number of atoms of the fission product selected as a burn-up monitor to the number of heavy atoms in the dissolved fuel sample (method of fission product accumulation, MFP). The ¹⁴⁵Nd + ¹⁴⁶Nd sum and ¹⁴⁸Nd were used as burn-up monitors.