A computerized method (UPPREC) for quantitative analysis of irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies with gamma emission tomography at the Halden reactor

In this paper, the methods assembled for the analysis of data collected by this novel instrument are described and demonstrated and a benchmark is presented using single rod gamma scanning. It is shown that the UPPREC methodology improves the accuracy of the reconstructions by removing the errors introduced by the presence of highly attenuating fuel and structural material in the fuel assembly. With the introduction of UPPREC, detailed quantitative cross-sectional images of nuclide concentrations in nuclear fuel are now able to be obtained by nondestructive means. This has potential applications in both nuclear fuel diagnostics and in safeguards.