Chemical methods for the use of niobium from pressure vessel cladding as a fast neutron dosimeter

The steel samples from the cladding of a pressure vessel of an operating nuclear power reactor were obtained by scraping. The cladding material of the pressure vessel contained about 0.5 % niobium. It was desired to use the niobium as a dosimeter for estimating fast fluences at the pressure vessel. The weak radiation from the reaction product 93mNb cannot be measured in the presence of other elements and interfering activities. A method was developed to separate niobium from other metals present; the concentration and yield of niobium were determined spectrophotometrically. The irradiated niobium was electrodeposited from aqueous solutions on copper discs. The amount of the deposited niobium was determined by a radiochemical method which makes use of its own radioactivity - measured with a liquid scintillation counter - and the known starting mass of niobium. It was possible to determine the deposited niobium masses (5 to 200 microgram) with a desired degree of accuracy. The absolute emission rate of X-rays could then be measured without any self-absorption or interference from other activities. The mass of niobium on each preparate and its X-ray emission rate, later on, were used as basic experimental data for the estimation of last neutron doses at the pressure vessel.