A novel application of cosmic rays for spent nuclear fuel monitoring - 15738
- School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University (United States)
Monitoring nuclear waste and controlling spent nuclear fuel at its source is one of the main strategies to minimize the risks of nuclear proliferation and reduce potential homeland threats. Storage of high level waste from a fission reactor typically involves placing spent fuel in sealed dry casks. After the spent nuclear fuel has been placed inside the dry cask, the cask is welded, not allowing for visual inspection. Conventional methods for examining the interior of materials e.g., X-rays, are limited by the fact that they cannot penetrate very dense well-shielded objects. Instead, cosmic ray muons have the potential to allow for assessment of spent nuclear fuel stored within sealed dense dry casks. Objectives: 1.Exploit the ability of cosmic ray muons to penetrate high density materials allowing the distribution of materials within the object to be inferred from the muon tracks. 2. Develop a monitoring system that tracks the path of cosmic ray muons, including their deflection and attenuation, to identify the contents of a closed dry cask. Methods: - Monte-Carlo simulations using Geant4; - Bayesian decision theory for signal classification; - Wavelet analysis for noise cancellation; - Chaotic Neural Networks for signal encryption. Results: 1. Preliminary statistical analysis proved that the method is feasible and has the ability to identify the presence of spent nuclear fuel in a dry cask. 2. Using monoenergetic muons, a dry cask with one fuel assembly missing can be correctly identified with error rate <1%. Broader merit: Once completed, the proposed project for cosmic ray muon transport will enable a new and potentially transformative approach towards efficient, inexpensive and remote cosmic ray muon applications in archaeology, medicine and safeguarding of nuclear materials.
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22824542
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--19-WM-15738
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ATTENUATION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COSMIC RADIATION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
INSPECTION
MONTE CARLO METHOD
MUONS
NEURAL NETWORKS
NOISE
PROLIFERATION
RADIATION MONITORING
SAFEGUARDS
SPENT FUEL CASKS
SPENT FUELS
WELDED JOINTS
X RADIATION