Non-destructive testing of gadolinium content in nuclear fuel

摘要

Samples of UO2-Gd2O3 oxide mixture having different, known gadolinium contents are subjected to gamma irradiation and the intensities of emitted X-rays are measured. A standard curve is therefore determined representing the content of gadolinium as a function of the sum of the next intensities of X-rays from the tested samples. This standard curve allows the deduction of gadolinium content in nuclear fuel of the same oxide mixture using the same fluorescence spectral analysis to give the sum of the net intensities of X-rays.