Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided for establishing the nature and level of radioactive sources within waste, particularly of a compactable nature. Detectors sensitive to low energy level radiation are provided with protection against dust contamination. Further detector configurations are provided to establish the presence of metallic material and/or higher energy level gamma emissions and/or detectors with a lower sensitivity to the emissions and/or detector configurations sensitive to neutrons are further provided.

Abstract: A method determining the plutonium content of a material containing fluorine involves obtaining the mass ratio of plutonium in a compound comprising plutonium and fluorine, particularly plutonium tetrafluoride, to the total plutonium content. The method utilises a high resolution gamma ray spectrometry technique to obtain a count rate in a pair of gamma ray photopeaks. One of the photopeaks has an energy level of 414 keV, resulting from the decay of plutonium-239, and the other photopeak has an energy level of 583 keV, resulting from the decay of an excited sodium-22 nucleus following an (alpha,n) interaction with fluorine.