This status report includes brief reports on measurements and calculations of quantities for nuclear data applications and data for reactor safety. Separate abstracts were prepared for those items with a significant amount of data. (RWR)

Nondestructive analyses of plutonium can be made by detecting and measuring the gamma rays emitted by a sample. Although qualitative and semiquantitative assays can be performed with relative ease, only recently have methods been developed, using computer analysis techniques, that provide quantitative results. This paper reviews some new techniques developed for measuring plutonium. The features of plutonium gamma-ray spectra are reviewed and some of the computer methods used for spectrum analysis are discussed. The discussion includes a description of a powerful computer method of unfolding complex peak multiplets that uses the standard linear least-squares techniques of data analysis. This computer method is based on the generation of response profiles for the isotopes composing a plutonium sample and requires a description of the peak positions, relative intensities, and line shapes. The principles that plutonium isotopic measurements are based on are also developed, followed by illustrations of the measurement procedures as applied to the quantitative analysis of plutonium liquid and solid samples.