Imaging Fukushima Daiichi reactors with muons

Journal Article · Wed May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · AIP Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4808210· OSTI ID:22118524

Miyadera, Haruo; Borozdin, Konstantin N.; Greene, Steve J.; Milner, Edward C.; Morris, Christopher L. ^[1]; Lukic, Zarija ^[2]; Masuda, Koji ^[3]; Perry, John O. ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
2. Computational Cosmology Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
3. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 (United States)

A study of imaging the Fukushima Daiichi reactors with cosmic-ray muons to assess the damage to the reactors is presented. Muon scattering imaging has high sensitivity for detecting uranium fuel and debris even through thick concrete walls and a reactor pressure vessel. Technical demonstrations using a reactor mockup, detector radiation test at Fukushima Daiichi, and simulation studies have been carried out. These studies establish feasibility for the reactor imaging. A few months of measurement will reveal the spatial distribution of the reactor fuel. The muon scattering technique would be the best and probably the only way for Fukushima Daiichi to make this determination in the near future.

• OSTI ID: 22118524
• Journal Information: AIP Advances, Vol. 3, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2013 Copyright-Sign 2013 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2158-3226
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
COSMIC RADIATION
FISSION
JAPAN
MUONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PRESSURE VESSELS
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION MONITORING
SCATTERING
SENSITIVITY
SIMULATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
URANIUM