DEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE AMBIENT-TEMPERATURE RADIOMETRIC ASSAYING INSTRUMENT

There is a strong need for portable radiometric instrumentation that c an accurately confirm the presence of nuclear materials and allow isot opic analysis of radionuclides in the field. To fulfill this need we a re developing a hand-held, non-cryogenic, low-power gamma and X-ray me asurement and analysis instrument that can both search and then accura tely verify the presence of nuclear materials. We will report on the u se of cadmium zinc telluride detectors, signal processing electronics, and the new field-portable instrument based on the MicroNOMAD Multich annel Analyzer from EG&G ORTEC. We will also describe the isotopic ana lysis that allows uranium enrichment measurements to be made accuratel y in the field.