A Portable Microcomputer Unit for the Analysis of Plutonium Gamma-Ray Spectra

A portable microcomputer has been developed for the IAEA to perform in-field analysis of plutonium gamma-ray spectra. The unit includes a 16-bit LSI-11/2 microprocessor, 32K words of memory, a 20-character display for user prompting, and a 20-character thermal printer for hardcopy output. Only the positions of the 148-keV Pu-241 and 208-keV U-237 peaks are required for spectral analysis. The unit was tested against gamma-ray spectra taken of NBS plutonium standards and IAEA spectra. Results obtained are presented.