Real time material accountability in a chemical reprocessing unit

Real time material accountability for a pulse column in a chemical reprocessing plant has been investigated using a simple two state Kalman Filter. Operation of the pulse column was simulated by the SEPHIS-MOD4 code. Noisy measurements of the column inventory were obtained from two neutron detectors with various simulated counting errors. Various loss scenarios were simulated and analyzed by the Kalman Filter. In all cases considered the Kalman Filter was a superior estimator of material loss.