Abstract As a result of the reprocessing of nuclear fuel, the fission products xenon and krypton are released to the atmosphere. Due to their different isotopic composition as compared to natural atmospheric xenon (krypton) the dilution process in air results in isotopic alterations in the blend. The isotopic compositions of fission noble gases were calculated for two scenarios. Subsequently blending calculations were carried out in order to simulate the mixing of the fission off-gases with atmospheric noble gases. In order to estimate the detection limit of the alternations occurring, the calculated isotope ratios in the blend were compared to the ratios of natural xenon (krypton) as measured using the highly developed ultra-accurate measurement facilities for isotopic mass spectrometry at the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements. The calculated sensitivity of this method lies within a range of some 10 9 m 3 of air g −1 fission gas. Finally the potential application of stable isotope measurements of xenon (krypton) as a supplementary method for detecting reprocessing activities is discussed.
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