Passive assay of plutonium metal plates using a fast-neutron multiplicity counter
Abstract
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 (240Pueff >50 g) with an uncertainty lower than 1% in a 4-min assay time.
- Authors:
-
[2];
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22)
- Contributing Org.:
- a Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA b Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, USA
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1470976
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1366711; OSTI ID: 1416602
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-17-40807-Rev000
Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517; NA0002534
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 855; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYl; 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; Plutonium; Assay; Fast Neutron Multiplicity; safeguards; fast-neutron multiplicity counter; organic scintillators; plutonium metal
Citation Formats
Di Fulvio, A., Shin, T. H., Jordan, T., Sosa, C., Ruch, M. L., Clarke, S. D., Chichester, D. L., and Pozzi, S. A. Passive assay of plutonium metal plates using a fast-neutron multiplicity counter. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.082.
Di Fulvio, A., Shin, T. H., Jordan, T., Sosa, C., Ruch, M. L., Clarke, S. D., Chichester, D. L., & Pozzi, S. A. Passive assay of plutonium metal plates using a fast-neutron multiplicity counter. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.082
Di Fulvio, A., Shin, T. H., Jordan, T., Sosa, C., Ruch, M. L., Clarke, S. D., Chichester, D. L., and Pozzi, S. A. Mon .
"Passive assay of plutonium metal plates using a fast-neutron multiplicity counter". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.082. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1470976.
@article{osti_1470976,
title = {Passive assay of plutonium metal plates using a fast-neutron multiplicity counter},
author = {Di Fulvio, A. and Shin, T. H. and Jordan, T. and Sosa, C. and Ruch, M. L. and Clarke, S. D. and Chichester, D. L. and Pozzi, S. A.},
abstractNote = {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 (240Pueff >50 g) with an uncertainty lower than 1% in a 4-min assay time.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.082},
journal = {Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment},
number = C,
volume = 855,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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- Physical Review C, Vol. 100, Issue 1
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journal, June 2019
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