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Undeclared uranium hitches a ride on cobalt exports from Congo, study says
Philippe (left) and Manzuk quantified the amount of uranium that has been exported from the DRC in cobalt shipments or left behind in the environment. (Photo: Joel Hallberg/UW–Madison)
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University have published a study in Nature Communications that calls attention to a blind spot in nuclear nonproliferation: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has exported thousands of metric tons of uranium, and there is no accounting for where it has gone.
In partnership with Lighthouse Reports and the Financial Times, UW–Madison nuclear engineering professor and nuclear security expert Sébastien Philippe and Ryan Manzuk, a geologist and research fellow in Philippe’s group and at Princeton, conducted the study using countrywide mineralization and geochemical data.
Jorge Navarro, Terry A. Ring, David W. Nigg
Nuclear Technology | Volume 190 | Number 2 | May 2015 | Pages 183-192
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-4
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A deconvolution methodology aimed to reduce the uncertainty for nondestructively predicting fuel burnup using gamma spectra collected with LaBr3 scintillators was developed. Deconvolution techniques have been used in the past to improve photopeak resolution of data collected using gamma detectors; however, they have not been used as a tool to more accurately predict fuel burnup. The deconvolution methodology consisted of calculating the detector response function using Monte Carlo simulations, validating the detector response function against experimental data, and implementing the maximum likelihood expectation maximization algorithm to enhance the LaBr3 gamma spectra. The deconvolution methodology was first tested on single-isotopic simulated data; later it was applied to fuel simulated data that were based on Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) fuel gamma spectra. The study showed that LaBr3 gamma spectra photopeak resolution and quality can be improved significantly using deconvolution methods, in addition to proving that enhancement techniques can be used to nondestructively predict ATR fuel burnup more accurately than using LaBr3 data without enhancements.