Above-ground Antineutrino Detection for Nuclear Reactor Monitoring
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Antineutrino monitoring of nuclear reactors has been demonstrated many times, however the technique has not as of yet been developed into a useful capability for treaty verification purposes. The most notable drawback is the current requirement that detectors be deployed underground, with at least several meters-water-equivalent of shielding from cosmic radiation. In addition, the deployment of liquid-based detector media presents a challenge in reactor facilities. We are currently developing a detector system that has the potential to operate above ground and circumvent deployment problems associated with a liquid detection media: the system is composed of segments of plastic scintillator surrounded by 6LiF/ZnS:Ag. ZnS:Ag is a radio-luminescent phosphor used to detect the neutron capture products of lithium-6. Because of its long decay time compared to standard plastic scintillators, pulse-shape discrimination can be used to distinguish positron and neutron interactions resulting from the inverse beta decay (IBD) of antineutrinos within the detector volume, reducing both accidental and correlated backgrounds. Segmentation further reduces backgrounds by identifying the positron’s annihilation gammas, which are absent for most correlated and uncorrelated backgrounds. This work explores different configurations in order to maximize the size of the detector segments without reducing the intrinsic neutron detection efficiency. We believe this technology will ultimately be applicable to potential safeguards scenarios such as those recently described.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 1183098
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1245664
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2014-17017J; 536957
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 769; ISSN 0168-9002
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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