NEW ACHIEVEMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF NUCLEAR TRACK MICROFILTERS

Nuclear Track Microfilters (NTKF) have been applied to analyse the pri me loop water of a nuclear power reactor for its content of plutonium and solid contaminants. After filtrating a few liters of prime loop wa ter and subsequent drying of the filters, the alpha-activity of the lo aded filters has been measured. The Pu content in the original water a nd Ln the filtrate were determined also, using conventional Pu chemist ry. First results show that the filters are capable of retaining a maj or fraction of the Pu present in the sample. Thus, alpha-spectrometry of the loaded filters could be a method to routinely determine the Pu content of the prime loop water Ln spit. of certain difficulties in th e sampling which will be discussed Ln the paper. Solid contaminants ha ve their origin in the corrosion of those materials which are in conta ct with th. coolant. Using the scanning electron microscope (SEM), the se particles can be found as filter load. Th.Lr elemental composition can be determined with the help of an energy-dispersive X-ray analysis system (EDXA) attached to the SEM.