ESARDA Workshop on Chemical Impurities

March 16-17, 2009

Uranium materials hold much more information than what is normally exploited for safeguards purposes. The information inherent to the material arises from isotopic, from microstructural or from chemical properties of the sample. The chemical impurities in uranium samples may be native from the ore or process inherited (either intentionally added or introduced as minor constituents of reagents or corrosion/abrasion of vessels and containers). In consequence, the chemical impurities provide a wealth of information on the provenance of the material and the process it was subjected to. Reliable measurements of trace element concentrations in uranium and the interpretation of the data are the basis for exploiting this source of information.

The ESARDA Working Group on Standards and Techniques for Destructive Analysis (WG DA), in close collaboration with the IAEA, organizes a dedicated workshop on impurity measurements in uranium samples. The workshop will be held on 16 and 17 March 2009 at the Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU) in Karlsruhe, Germany. The workshop aims at illuminating the relevance of impurity data for safeguards, non-proliferation, nuclear forensics and other applications. Safeguards authorities, fuel manufacturers and analytical laboratories are invited to participate in the workshop for exchanging views and experience in this area. In particular the workshop will address:

Needs and requirements of IAEA Safeguards
Needs in other areas (e.g. fuel manufacturers, nuclear forensics)
Methods and instrumentation used
Instrument calibration and standards
Sample preparation and contamination control
Measurement performance, limits of detection and quantification
Internal and external quality control
Data evaluation techniques

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