Telemetering of uranium or plutonium in glass
AssigneeEuratom
InventorsKay Niemax, Lars Hiddemann, Lothar Koch, Jean-Francois Babelot
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described are a process and an apparatus for the remote measurement of uranium or plutonium in radioactive materials, in which the sample of the material to be analyzed is to be handled as little as possible. To attain that object it is proposed that the laser beam of a laser is focused by means of a focusing unit onto the sample to be analyzed, so that a light-emitting plasma is generated, an image of the emission spectrum of the plasma is formed in a spectrograph by means of an imaging unit, and finally it is analyzed by means of an analyzing unit.
Claims20
Apparatus for the remote measurement of uranium or plutonium in radioactive materials, characterised in that there are provided:
- a laser (1) whose laser beam can be focussed by means of a focussing unit (2) onto a sample (3) to be analyzed so that light-emitting plasma (18) is produced,
- a spectrograph (4) in which an image of the light emitted by the sample (3) can be formed by means of an imaging unit (5), and
- an analyzing unit (6) for analysis of the emission spectrum recorded by the spectrograph (4).
An apparatus as set forth in one of the preceding claims characterised in that the imaging unit (5) has at least a second lens system (11, 12:
- 11′, 12′) and at least a second light guide (13) coupled to the spectrograph (4).
An apparatus as set forth in one of the preceding claims characterised in that there is provided a measuring head (14) which can be put onto the sample (3).
A process for the remote measurement of uranium or plutonium in radioactive materials characterised by the following process steps:
- generating the light-emitting plasma (18) of a sample (3) to be analyzed by means of a laser beam,
- detecting the emission spectrum of the plasma (18), and
- analyzing the emission spectrum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.