Fuel pellet

[Jim Kovalchick]

I'm sure most everyone has seen the plastic simulated fuel pellets that were give aways at nuke plant info centers to help visitors visualize the energy concentration of reactors. Believe it or not, there was a time when it wasn't unheard of for real uranium to be given away. No, they didn't give real pellets to just any visitor, but important people like potential customers, maybe. Recently, I was gifted a Babcock & Wilcox pellet paperweight from the early to mid 1970's. I thought, just maybe...
Testing it with a Geiger yielded just a hint over background because the Lucite blocks all the alpha and beta. A scintillation detector just loves it thus confirming the pellet is real. Here is a spectrum that I believe shows it as depleted uranium. The characteristic at 186 keV that I marked with a red dot is too shallow to be more that that. Still pretty cool.
JK

[Lposter]

I have one from SKB in Sweden! I will take a picture on Monday. Never measured it though. I thought it was fake.....its in a little acrylic block like a key ring.

[Jim Kovalchick]

Lars,
Most are simulated. I hope you get lucky with yours. I have another pellet in a block from the opening of plant Hatch in 1974, and it gives no counts.

JK

[Jim Kovalchick]

Here is a comparison that shows how the peak would look with more U 235 in it. The red is the DU pellet.

[Lposter]

Here is the one I have from SKB. Not in the best of shape but it has been hanging on a set of keys and thrown in a drawer for at least 20 years.

I have never measured this based on the assumption that it was a fake pellet. Looking at the size of the lucite block the Babcock one is enclosed in, the relatively small size of the SKB block would reinforce that assumption to my mind.

Nonetheless, I will see if anything can be detected.

Lars

[Lposter]

Out of curiosity....I ran this with a Radiacode in a shield for a week and saw precisely ......nothing.

I should have known the Swedes would let me down with their fake pellets!!!

lars