Patent ID: 6452992
Filing Date: 2002-09-17
Classification: G01N,G01T

Abstract:
A method of measuring relative proportions of uranium and plutonium in a body (16, 116), including the following steps:a) irradiating the body with photons whose energy is sufficient to cause photofission of actinide elements, b) counting the number of delayed neutrons emitted per unit time by fission products induced in the said body in response to the irradiation, c) establishing a time decay function (500) of the number of neutrons ne(t) emitted, characteristic of the actinide composition of the said body, d) comparing the time decay ne(t) characteristic of the actinide composition of the said body (116), with time decays (501, 502) of emission of delayed neutrons nu(t), np(t) characteristic respectively of uranium and plutonium, in order to establish the relative proportions of these elements in the body.