Advanced technology for enrichment monitoring for gas centrifuge enrichment plants

We report our developments of the next generation of uranium enrichment monitoring technology for gas centrifuge enrichment plants (GCEPs). The main challenge presented by current technology is the need for periodic replacement of the short half-life (1.27 year) 109 Cd transmission source. We report on a transmission source at the 22.1 keV K-edge of ruthenium based on an X-ray tube with a “notch” filter. As part of the design we have modeled the NaI detector passive shielding with the MCNP code. Some preliminary results from experiments and modeling will be presented.