Several instrument modifications are described including a shop-built turret mount which provides four water-cooled sample compartments, each accommodating samples up to 1.75 inches in diameter by 1.75 inches long.

Sensitivity for detection of the elements throughout the Periodic Chart is discussed for several counters.

Uranium and plutonium have been determined up to 20 w/o in metallic samples of aluminum alloys with a precision of ± one per cent in less than three minutes counting time. The determination of uranium dioxide in cryolite involved powder samples and the use of an internal standard. Uranium dioxide dispersions in bismuth metal were very heterogeneous; they were dissolved and precipitated to provide homogeneous, powders which were analyzed by measuring the intensity ratio of uranium and bismuth fluorescence.

X-ray fluorescence has been used to measure aluminum cladding thickness over plutonium alloy cores. Precision is discussed in terms of cladding thickness, aperture size, and counting time. Thickness of 11 w/o and 14 w/o plutonium-aluminum and enriched uranium-aluminum cores in reactor fuel plates has been measured by X-ray absorption in the range 0.010 to 0.030 inch with a sensitivity of ± 0.00025 inch.