The Euratom Fast Collar (EFC): A Safeguards Instrument Design to Address Future Fuel Measurement Challenges

Summary of this presentation: (1) EFC instrument design for {sup 235}U verification measurements issued to EURATOM to issue a call for commercial tender; (2) Achieved a fast (Cd mode) measurement with less than 2% relative uncertainty in the doubles neutron counting rate in 10 minutes using a standard source strength; (3) Assay time in fast mode consistent with the needs of an inspector; (4) Extended to realistic calibration range for modern fuel designs - Relatively insensitive to gadolinia content for fuel designs with up to 32 burnable poison rods and 15 wt % gadolinia concentration, which is a realistic maximum for modern PWR fuel; (5) Improved performance over the standard thermal neutron collar with greater than twice the efficiency of the original design; (6) Novel tube pattern to reduce the impact of accidental pile-up; and (7) Joint test of prototype unit - EURATOM-LANL.