Passive assay of plutonium metal plates using a fast-neutron multiplicity counter

Di Fulvio, A.; Shin, T. H.; Jordan, T.; Sosa, C.; Ruch, M. L.; Clarke, S. D.; Chichester, D. L.; Pozzi, S. A.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.082

Title: Passive assay of plutonium metal plates using a fast-neutron multiplicity counter

Journal Article · Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.082· OSTI ID:1470976

Di Fulvio, A. ^[1]; Shin, T. H. ^[1]; Jordan, T. ^[1]; Sosa, C. ^[1]; Ruch, M. L. ^[1]; Clarke, S. D. ^[1];

^[2]; Pozzi, S. A. ^[1]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Here, we developed a fast-neutron multiplicity counter based on organic scintillators (EJ-309 liquid and stilbene). The system detects correlated photon and neutron multiplets emitted by fission reactions, within a gate time of tens of nanoseconds. The system was used at Idaho National Laboratory to assay a variety of plutonium metal plates. A coincidence counting strategy was used to quantify the ²⁴⁰Pu effective mass of the samples. Coincident neutrons, detected within a 40-ns coincidence window, show a monotonic trend, increasing with the ²⁴⁰Pu-effective mass (in this work, we tested the 0.005–0.5 kg range). After calibration, the system estimated the ²⁴⁰Pu effective mass of an unknown sample (²⁴⁰Pu_eff >50 g) with an uncertainty lower than 1% in a 4-min assay time.

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Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22)

Contributing Organization:: a Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA b Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, USA

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517; NA0002534

OSTI ID:: 1470976

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1366711; OSTI ID: 1416602

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU-17-40807-Rev000

Journal Information:: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 855, Issue C; ISSN 0168-9002

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 40 works

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References (13)

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A Note on the Nomenclature in Neutron Multiplicity Mathematics Shin, Tony H.; Hutchinson, Jesson; Bahran, Rian Nuclear Science and Engineering, Vol. 193, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1560758	journal	January 2019
High resolution measurement of tagged two-neutron energy and angle correlations in ${}^{252}{Cf}$ (sf) Schuster, P. F.; Marcath, M. J.; Marin, S. Physical Review C, Vol. 100, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.100.014605	journal	July 2019
Passive Gamma-Ray and Neutron Imaging Systems for National Security and Nuclear Non-Proliferation in Controlled and Uncontrolled Detection Areas: Review of Past and Current Status Al Hamrashdi, Hajir; Monk, Stephen D.; Cheneler, David Sensors, Vol. 19, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.3390/s19112638	journal	June 2019

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