Ion-induced gammas for photofission interrogation of HEU.

Doyle, Barney Lee; Antolak, Arlyn J; Morse, Daniel H; Provencio, Paula Polyak

doi:10.2172/878586

Title: Ion-induced gammas for photofission interrogation of HEU.

Full Record
Other Related Research

Abstract

High-energy photons and neutrons can be used to actively interrogate for heavily shielded special nuclear material (SNM), such as HEU (highly enriched uranium), by detecting prompt and/or delayed induced fission signatures. In this work, we explore the underlying physics for a new type of photon source that generates high fluxes of mono-energetic gamma-rays from low-energy (<500 keV) proton-induced nuclear reactions. The characteristic energies (4- to 18-MeV) of the gamma-rays coincide with the peak of the photonuclear cross section. The source could be designed to produce gamma-rays of certain selected energies, thereby improving the probability of detecting shielded HEU or providing a capability to determine enrichment inside sealed containers. The fundamental physics of such an interrogation source were studied in this LDRD through scaled ion accelerator experiments and radiation transport modeling. The data were used to assess gamma and neutron yields, background, and photofission-induced signal levels from several (p,{gamma}) target materials under consideration.

Authors:

Doyle, Barney Lee ^[1]; Antolak, Arlyn J; Morse, Daniel H; Provencio, Paula Polyak ^[1]

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

Publication Date:: Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2006

Research Org.:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 878586

Report Number(s):: SAND2006-0995
TRN: US0602416

DOE Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

Resource Type:: Technical Report

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS; ACCELERATORS; CONTAINERS; CROSS SECTIONS; FISSION; NEUTRONS; NUCLEAR REACTIONS; PHOTOFISSION; PHOTONS; PHYSICS; PROBABILITY; RADIATION TRANSPORT; SIMULATION; TARGETS; URANIUM; Transport theory.; Particle accelerators.; Electron transport.; Ion accelerators.

Citation Formats


                    Doyle, Barney Lee, Antolak, Arlyn J, Morse, Daniel H, and Provencio, Paula Polyak. Ion-induced gammas for photofission interrogation of HEU..  United States: N. p., 2006. 
        Web.  doi:10.2172/878586.

Copy to clipboard


                    Doyle, Barney Lee, Antolak, Arlyn J, Morse, Daniel H, & Provencio, Paula Polyak. Ion-induced gammas for photofission interrogation of HEU..  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/878586

Copy to clipboard


                    Doyle, Barney Lee, Antolak, Arlyn J, Morse, Daniel H, and Provencio, Paula Polyak. 2006.  
        "Ion-induced gammas for photofission interrogation of HEU.".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/878586.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/878586.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_878586,

  title        = {Ion-induced gammas for photofission interrogation of HEU.},

  author       = {Doyle, Barney Lee and Antolak, Arlyn J and Morse, Daniel H and Provencio, Paula Polyak},

  abstractNote = {High-energy photons and neutrons can be used to actively interrogate for heavily shielded special nuclear material (SNM), such as HEU (highly enriched uranium), by detecting prompt and/or delayed induced fission signatures. In this work, we explore the underlying physics for a new type of photon source that generates high fluxes of mono-energetic gamma-rays from low-energy (<500 keV) proton-induced nuclear reactions. The characteristic energies (4- to 18-MeV) of the gamma-rays coincide with the peak of the photonuclear cross section. The source could be designed to produce gamma-rays of certain selected energies, thereby improving the probability of detecting shielded HEU or providing a capability to determine enrichment inside sealed containers. The fundamental physics of such an interrogation source were studied in this LDRD through scaled ion accelerator experiments and radiation transport modeling. The data were used to assess gamma and neutron yields, background, and photofission-induced signal levels from several (p,{gamma}) target materials under consideration.},

  doi          = {10.2172/878586},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/878586},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2006},

  month        = {Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2006}

}

Copy to clipboard

Technical Report:

View Technical Report (2.31 MB)

https://doi.org/10.2172/878586

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Similar records in OSTI.GOV collections:

A dual neutron/gamma source for the Fissmat Inspection for Nuclear Detection (FIND) system.

Technical Report Doyle, Barney; King, Michael; Rossi, Paolo; ...

Shielded special nuclear material (SNM) is very difficult to detect and new technologies are needed to clear alarms and verify the presence of SNM. High-energy photons and neutrons can be used to actively interrogate for heavily shielded SNM, such as highly enriched uranium (HEU), since neutrons can penetrate gamma-ray shielding and gamma-rays can penetrate neutron shielding. Both source particles then induce unique detectable signals from fission. In this LDRD, we explored a new type of interrogation source that uses low-energy proton- or deuteron-induced nuclear reactions to generate high fluxes of mono-energetic gammas or neutrons. Accelerator-based experiments, computational studies, and prototypemore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/946576

Full Text Available
Photofission Validation Measurements for Active Interrogation Standards

Technical Report Warren, Glen; Kouzes, Richard

Executive Summary PNNL has been developing technical standards for the detection of special nuclear material (SNM) in cargo containers using active interrogation approaches. Since the use of kilogram-scale quantities of SNM is impractical for standards testing, the work focused on designing surrogates that provided similar signature as the SNM. There are many active interrogation approaches to detect SNM; the standards development considered photofission, differential die-away and nuclear resonance fluorescence. Of these approaches, photofission currently carries the most interest. However, uncertainties in the photofission cross sections are as large as 50%, so that validation measurements are necessary to provide confidence thatmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1989462

Full Text Available
Proof-of-Concept Assessment of a Photofission-Based Interrogation System for the Detection of Shielded Nuclear Material

Technical Report Jones, J; Yoon, W; Harker, Y; ...

A photonuclear interrogation method was experimentally assessed for the detection of shielded nuclear materials. Proof-of-Concept assessment was performed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) TA-18 facility and used the INEEL VARITRON electron accelerator. Experiments were performed to assess and characterize the delayed neutron emission responses for different nuclear materials with various shield configurations using three ''nominal'' electron beam energies; 8-, 10-, and 11-MeV. With the exception of highly enriched uranium (HEU), the nuclear materials assessed represent material types commonly encountered in commerce. The specific nuclear materials studied include a solid 4.8-kg HEU sphere, a 5-kg multiple-object, depleted uranium (DU)more »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/786855

Full Text Available
Detectors for Active Interrogation Applications

Journal Article Clarke, S.; Hamel, M.; Bourne, M.; ... - Physics Procedia

Active interrogation creates an environment that is particularly challenging from a radiation-detection standpoint: the elevated background levels from the source can mask the desired signatures from the SNM. Neutron based interrogation experiments have shown that nanosecond-level timing is required to discriminate induced-fission neutrons from the scattered source neutrons. Previous experiments using high-energy bremsstrahlung X-rays have demonstrated the ability to induce and detect prompt photofission neutrons from single target materials; however, a real-world application would require spectroscopic capability to discern between photofission neutrons emitted by SNM and neutrons emitted by other reactions in non-SNM. Using digital pulseshape discrimination, organic liquid scintillatorsmore »« less
Cited by 5
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phpro.2017.09.006

Full Text Available
Detection of Special Nuclear Material in Cargo using Continuous Neutron Interrogation and Tension Metastable Fluid Detectors

Journal Article Hagen, Alex; Archambault, Brian; Taleyarkhan, Rusi - Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

This paper presents results using a novel technique for detecting special nuclear materials (SNMs) based on interrogation with a continuous beam of 2.45 MeV neutrons coupled with high intrinsic efficiency tensioned metastable fluid detectors (TMFDs) operated in threshold rejection mode. While passive interrogation may be utilized for detecting SNMs such as {sup 239}Pu from their strong spontaneous fission neutron signatures, this is not so for highly-enriched uranium (HEU), the timely detection of which has been identified as a grand challenge by the U.S. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). Active (neutron and/or photon based) interrogation represents the only viable means formore »« less

Similar Records