Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Colloquium: Neutrino detectors as tools for nuclear security

Journal Article · · Reviews of Modern Physics
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division; University of Michigan
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division
  3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
  4. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States). Center for Neutrino Physics
  5. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences
  6. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
+ Show Author Affiliations

For over 40 years, physicists have discussed possible uses for neutrino detectors in nuclear nonproliferation, arms control, and fissile materials security. Neutrinos are an attractive fission signature because they readily pass through matter. The same property makes neutrinos challenging to detect in systems that would be practical for nuclear security applications. This Colloquium presents a broad overview of several potential neutrino applications, including the near-field monitoring of known reactors, far-field monitoring of known or discovery of undeclared reactors, detection of reactor waste streams, and detection of nuclear explosions. Recent detector advances have made near-field monitoring feasible, whereas farther-field reactor detection and waste stream detection monitoring may be possible in some cases with further research and development. Very long-range reactor monitoring and nuclear explosion detection do not seem feasible for the foreseeable future due to considerable physical and/or practical constraints.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Consortium for Monitoring, Technology and Verification; Consortium for Nonproliferation Enabling Capabilities; Consortium for Verification Technology; Nuclear Science and Security Consortium; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; NA0002534; NA0002576; NA0003180; NA0003920; SC0018327
OSTI ID:
1616453
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL--784940; 7347633668
Journal Information:
Reviews of Modern Physics, Journal Name: Reviews of Modern Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 92; ISSN 0034-6861
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (122)

Possibilities of the practical use of neutrinos journal June 1978
Neutrino method remote measurement of reactor power and power output journal February 1994
Updated global analysis of neutrino oscillations in the presence of eV-scale sterile neutrinos journal August 2018
Performance Assessment of the CTBTO Noble Gas Network to Detect Nuclear Explosions journal April 2017
A scintillation counter with neutron and gamma-ray discriminators journal April 1959
Indication for neutrino oscillation from a high statistics experiment at the bugey reactor journal November 1984
Search for neutrino oscillations at 15, 40 and 95 meters from a nuclear power reactor at Bugey journal January 1995
Limits on neutrino oscillations from the CHOOZ experiment journal November 1999
Muon simulation codes MUSIC and MUSUN for underground physics journal March 2009
Inorganic thermal-neutron scintillators
  • van Eijk, C. W. E.; Bessière, A.; Dorenbos, P.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 529, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2004.04.163
journal August 2004
Experimental results from an antineutrino detector for cooperative monitoring of nuclear reactors
  • Bowden, N. S.; Bernstein, A.; Allen, M.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 572, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2006.12.015
journal March 2007
Neutron detection and identification using ZnS:Ag/6LiF in segmented antineutrino detectors
  • Kiff, Scott D.; Bowden, Nathaniel; Lund, Jim
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 652, Issue 1, p. 412-416 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2010.07.082
journal October 2011
A mobile antineutrino detector with plastic scintillators
  • Kuroda, Y.; Oguri, S.; Kato, Y.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 690 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.06.040
journal October 2012
A note on neutron capture correlation signals, backgrounds, and efficiencies
  • Bowden, N. S.; Sweany, M.; Dazeley, S.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 693 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.07.005
journal November 2012
Reactor antineutrino monitoring with a plastic scintillator array as a new safeguards method
  • Oguri, S.; Kuroda, Y.; Kato, Y.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 757 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2014.04.065
journal September 2014
Development of an advanced antineutrino detector for reactor monitoring
  • Classen, T.; Bernstein, A.; Bowden, N. S.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 771 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2014.10.022
journal January 2015
Reconstructing the direction of reactor antineutrinos via electron scattering in Gd-doped water Cherenkov detectors
  • Hellfeld, D.; Bernstein, A.; Dazeley, S.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 841 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.10.027
journal January 2017
A plastic scintillator array for reactor based anti-neutrino studies
  • Mulmule, D.; Behera, S. P.; Netrakanti, P. K.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 911 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.026
journal December 2018
Search for sterile neutrinos at the DANSS experiment journal December 2018
Theoretical antineutrino detection, direction and ranging at long distances journal June 2013
Geo-neutrinos journal November 2013
Estimating the detection capability of the International Monitoring System infrasound network journal January 2010
The “Neutrino” journal April 1934
Antineutrino astronomy and geophysics journal July 1984
Gigantic Japanese detector prepares to catch neutrinos from supernovae journal February 2019
AGM2015: Antineutrino Global Map 2015 journal September 2015
Monitoring the thermal power of nuclear reactors with a prototype cubic meter antineutrino detector journal April 2008
Observation of the isotopic evolution of pressurized water reactor fuel using an antineutrino detector journal March 2009
Infrared monitoring of nuclear power in space conference January 1988
Iraq's Secret Nuclear Weapons Program journal July 1992
Worldwide deployments of nuclear weapons, 2017 journal August 2017
An assessment of antineutrino detection as a tool for monitoring nuclear explosions journal January 2001
Converting the Iranian Heavy Water Reactor IR-40 to a More Proliferation-Resistant Reactor journal May 2012
Antineutrino Reactor Safeguards: A Case Study of the DPRK 1994 Nuclear Crisis journal January 2015
Detection of Breeding Blankets Using Antineutrinos journal May 2016
Neutrino-Based Tools for Nuclear Verification and Diplomacy in North Korea journal January 2019
Infrared monitoring of nuclear power in space journal January 1989
The PROSPECT physics program journal October 2016
Neutrino physics with JUNO journal February 2016
Reactor monitoring and safeguards using antineutrino detectors journal November 2008
Current status of SK-Gd project and EGADS journal May 2016
Performance of a full scale prototype detector at the BR2 reactor for the SoLid experiment journal May 2018
Performance of a segmented 6 Li-loaded liquid scintillator detector for the PROSPECT experiment journal June 2018
Optimisation of the scintillation light collection and uniformity for the SoLid experiment journal September 2018
Sensitivity of Seismically Cued Antineutrino Detectors to Nuclear Explosions journal August 2018
Determining Reactor Fuel Type from Continuous Antineutrino Monitoring journal September 2017
Antineutrino Monitoring of Spent Nuclear Fuel journal November 2017
Reactors as a Source of Antineutrinos: Effects of Fuel Loading and Burnup for Mixed-Oxide Fuels journal January 2018
Neutrino-induced deuteron disintegration experiment journal March 1999
Improved predictions of reactor antineutrino spectra journal May 2011
Determination of antineutrino spectra from nuclear reactors journal August 2011
Search for neutrino oscillations at a fission reactor journal September 1981
Neutrino-oscillation experiments at the Gösgen nuclear power reactor journal November 1986
Results of a two-position reactor neutrino-oscillation experiment journal June 1996
Angular distribution of neutron inverse beta decay, ν ¯ e + p → e + + n journal July 1999
Final results from the Palo Verde neutrino oscillation experiment journal November 2001
Muon-induced background study for underground laboratories journal March 2006
Reactor antineutrino anomaly journal April 2011
Coherent effects of a weak neutral current journal March 1974
Online monitoring of the Osiris reactor with the Nucifer neutrino detector journal June 2016
Impact of fission neutron energies on reactor antineutrino spectra journal April 2018
Indication of Reactor ν ¯ e Disappearance in the Double Chooz Experiment journal March 2012
Observation of Electron-Antineutrino Disappearance at Daya Bay journal April 2012
Observation of Reactor Electron Antineutrinos Disappearance in the RENO Experiment journal May 2012
First Indication of Terrestrial Matter Effects on Solar Neutrino Oscillation journal March 2014
Antineutrino Monitoring for Heavy Water Reactors journal July 2014
Directional Antineutrino Detection journal February 2015
Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay journal February 2016
Neutron Capture and the Antineutrino Yield from Nuclear Reactors journal March 2016
Observation of Energy and Baseline Dependent Reactor Antineutrino Disappearance in the RENO Experiment journal May 2016
Erratum: Measurement of the reactor antineutrino flux and spectrum at Daya Bay [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 , 061801 (2016)] journal March 2017
Sterile Neutrino Search at the NEOS Experiment journal March 2017
Sterile Neutrino Constraints from the STEREO Experiment with 66 Days of Reactor-On Data journal October 2018
First Search for Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillations at HFIR with PROSPECT journal December 2018
Measurement of the Antineutrino Spectrum from U 235 Fission at HFIR with PROSPECT journal June 2019
Extraction of the U 235 and Pu 239 Antineutrino Spectra at Daya Bay journal September 2019
Evidence for Neutrino Instability journal October 1980
Signal for Supernova ν μ and ν τ Neutrinos in Water Čerenkov Detectors journal April 1996
First Results from KamLAND: Evidence for Reactor Antineutrino Disappearance journal January 2003
Antineutrino Spectroscopy with Large Water Čerenkov Detectors journal October 2004
Nobel Lecture: Discovery of atmospheric neutrino oscillations journal July 2016
Nobel Lecture: The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory: Observation of flavor change for solar neutrinos journal July 2016
Public Domain Treaty Compliance Verification in the Digital Age journal January 2013
Thermodynamics of partially frozen cooling lakes conference May 2010
Overview of the hydroacoustic monitoring system for the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty journal February 1999
Detection of the Free Neutrino: a Confirmation journal July 1956
Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering journal August 2017
First Observation of the Oscillation Effect in the Neutrino-4 Experiment on the Search for the Sterile Neutrino journal February 2019
ПЕРВОЕ НАБЛЮДЕНИЕ ЭФФЕКТА ОСЦИЛЛЯЦИЙ В ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТЕ НЕЙТРИНО-4 ПО ПОИСКУ СТЕРИЛЬНОГО НЕЙТРИНО
  • СЕРЕБРОВ, А. П.; ИВОЧКИН, В. Г.; САМОЙЛОВ, Р. М.
  • ПИСЬМА В ЖУРНАЛ ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТАЛЬНОЙ И ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКОЙ ФИЗИКИ, Vol. 109, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1134/S0370274X19040015
journal January 2019
Industrial Reactor Power Monitoring Using Antineutrino Counts in the DANSS Detector journal September 2019
Reactor Neutrino Spectra journal October 2016
The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background journal November 2010
Global nuclear weapons inventories, 1945–2013 journal September 2013
Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering text January 2017
First Results from KamLAND: Evidence for Reactor Antineutrino Disappearance text January 2003
Detection Capability of the Seismic Network of the International Monitoring System for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty journal March 2013
First Search for Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillations at HFIR with PROSPECT text January 2018
Monitoring the Thermal Power of Nuclear Reactors with a Prototype Cubic Meter Antineutrino Detector text January 2008
Reactor monitoring and safeguards using antineutrino detectors text January 2008
A Note on Neutron Capture Correlation Signals, Backgrounds, and Efficiencies text January 2012
Observation of Reactor Electron Antineutrino Disappearance in the RENO Experiment text January 2012
A mobile antineutrino detector with plastic scintillators text January 2012
Theoretical Antineutrino Detection, Direction and Ranging at Long Distances text January 2013
Reactor antineutrino monitoring with a plastic scintillator array as a new safeguards method text January 2014
Neutrino Physics with JUNO text January 2015
Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay text January 2015
Neutron capture and the antineutrino yield from nuclear reactors text January 2015
Reactor Neutrino Spectra text January 2016
Antineutrino monitoring of spent nuclear fuel text January 2016
Sterile neutrino search at NEOS Experiment text January 2016
Determining reactor fuel type from continuous antineutrino monitoring text January 2016
Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering text January 2017
Performance of a full scale prototype detector at the BR2 reactor for the SoLid experiment text January 2018
Impact of Fission Neutron Energies on Reactor Antineutrino Spectra text January 2018
Search for sterile neutrinos at the DANSS experiment text January 2018
Sterile Neutrino Constraints from the STEREO Experiment with 66 days of Reactor-on Data text January 2018
Optimisation of the scintillation light collection and uniformity for the SoLid experiment text January 2018
First search for short-baseline neutrino oscillations at HFIR with PROSPECT text January 2018
A plastic scintillator array for reactor based anti-neutrino studies text January 2018
Neutrino-based tools for nuclear verification and diplomacy in North Korea text January 2018
Experimental Results from an Antineutrino Detector for Cooperative Monitoring of Nuclear Reactors text January 2006
Updated global analysis of neutrino oscillations in the presence of eV-scale sterile neutrinos text January 2018

Similar Records

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
Neutrino detectors
Neutrinos
Scintillators