Title: Scalability of Gadolinium-Doped-Water Cherenkov Detectors for Nuclear Nonproliferation

Abstract

Antineutrinos are an inextricable element of the fission process. The kiloton-scale KamLAND experiment has demonstrated a capability to detect reactor antineutrinos at a range of a few hundred kilometers. But to detect or rule out the existence of a single small reactor over many kilometers requires a large detector, so large in fact that the optical opacity of the detection medium itself becomes an important factor. If the detector is so large that photons cannot traverse the detector medium to an optical detector, then it becomes impractical. For this reason, gadolinium-doped-water Cherenkov detectors have been proposed for large volumes, due to their appealing light-attenuation properties. Even though Cherenkov emission does not produce many photons and the energy resolution is poor, there may be a place for Gd-doped-water detectors in far-field nuclear-reactor monitoring. Here in this paper, we focus on the reactor-discovery potential of large-volume Gd-doped-water Cherenkov detectors for nuclear-nonproliferation applications. Realistic background models for the worldwide reactor flux, geoneutrinos, cosmogenic fast neutrons, and detector-associated backgrounds are included. We calculate the detector run time required to detect a small 50-MWt reactor at a variety of stand-off distances as a function of detector size. We highlight that, at present, the photomultiplier-tube darkmore » rate and event reconstruction algorithms are the limiting factors to extending such detectors beyond a fiducial mass of approximately 50 kt.« less

Authors:

Li, Viacheslav A. ;

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Li, Viacheslav A."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-0191-4579"

Dazeley, Steven A. ;

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Dazeley, Steven A."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-7395-8119"

Bergevin, Marc ;

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Bergevin, Marc"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-1326-772X"

Bernstein, Adam

Publication Date:

Thu Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2022

Research Org.:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

OSTI Identifier:

1888848

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 2223031

Report Number(s):

LLNL-JRNL-823255
Journal ID: ISSN 2331-7019; PRAHB2; 034059

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC52-07NA27344; LLNL-JRNL-823255

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Physical Review Applied

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Physical Review Applied Journal Volume: 18 Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2331-7019

Publisher:

American Physical Society

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; beta decay; neutrino oscillations; nuclear reactors; reactor instrumentation; Cherenkov detectors; cosmic ray and astroparticle detectors; neutrino detection; radiation detectors