Cosmic ray muon computed tomography of spent nuclear fuel in dry storage casks
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Radiography with cosmic ray muon scattering has proven to be a successful method of imaging nuclear material through heavy shielding. Of particular interest is monitoring dry storage casks for diversion of plutonium contained in spent reactor fuel. Using muon tracking detectors that surround a cylindrical cask, cosmic ray muon scattering can be simultaneously measured from all azimuthal angles, giving complete tomographic coverage of the cask interior. This article describes the first application of filtered back projection algorithms, typically used in medical imaging, to cosmic ray muon scattering imaging. The specific application to monitoring spent nuclear fuel in dry storage casks is investigated via GEANT4 simulations. With a cylindrical muon tracking detector surrounding a typical spent fuel cask, simulations indicate that missing fuel bundles can be detected with a statistical significance of ~18σ in less than two days exposure and a sensitivity at 1σ to a 5% missing portion of a fuel bundle. Finally, we discuss potential detector technologies and geometries.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1345145
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1776900
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-16-21971; TRN: US1700514
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 842; ISSN 0168-9002
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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