Active interrogation of highly enriched uranium

Conference · Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2003

OSTI ID:977675

Moss, C E ^[1]; Hollas, C L ^[2]; Myers, W L ^[3]

---

1. Calvin E.
2. Charles L.
3. William L.

Active interrogation techniques provide reliable detection of highly enriched uranium (HEU) even when passive detection is difficult. We use 50-Hz pulsed beams of bremsstrahlung photons from a 10-MeV linac or 14-MeV neutrons from a neutron generator for interrogation, thus activating the HEU. Detection of neutrons between pulses is a positive indicator of the presence of fissionable material. We detect the neutrons with three neutron detector designs based on {sup 3}He tubes. This report shows examples of the responses in these three detectors, for unshielded and shielded kilogram quantities of HEU, in containers as large as cargo containers.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• OSTI ID: 977675
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-04-3913
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
CARGO
CONTAINERS
DETECTION
FISSIONABLE MATERIALS
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
LINEAR ACCELERATORS
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NEUTRON GENERATORS
NEUTRONS
PHOTONS