The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 21, 1980
Filed:
Aug. 07, 1978
Satya P Arya, Wilmington, NC (US);
Leonard N Grossman, Wrightsville Beach, NC (US);
Frederick C Schoenig, Jr, Wilmington, NC (US);
General Electric Company, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
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.