General Electric Company

Satya P Arya

Frederick C Schoenig, Jr

Leonard N Grossman

The amount of fissile material such as U-235 in each portion of a fuel element, some of which portions may also contain burnable poison such as gadolinium, is determined by detecting the gamma ray emission due to the natural radioactive decay of the fuel material, analyzing the gamma ray signals from each portion to provide a first count of gamma rays primarily due to the U-235 and a second count of gamma rays primarily due to the U-238 daughter products. These first and second counts are corrected for the cladding wall thickness, the density of the fuel material and the burnable poison content in each portion. The first (U-235) count is then corrected by the second (U-238 daughter) count and the thus corrected U-235 count is converted to an indication of the fuel enrichment in each portion. From the enrichment, the burnable poison content, the density of the fuel material and the volumes of each portion, the weight of U-235 in each portion can be determined.

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Wilmington, NC, United States of America

Satya P Arya