Use of Imaging for Nuclear Material Control and Accountability

Conference · Thu May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:975054

Mullens, James Allen ^[1]; Hausladen, Paul ^[1]; Bingham, Philip R. ^[1]; Archer, Daniel E. ^[1]; Grogan, Brandon R. ^[1]; Mihalczo, John T. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The recent addition of imaging to the Nuclear Materials and Identification System (NMIS) using a small portable DT neutron generator with an embedded alpha detector to time and directionally tag neutrons from the DT reaction is discussed. The generator weighs {approx}35 lbs including power supplies (5 x 10⁷n/sec) and operates on 50 watts power. Thus, the source can be easily moved to a variety of locations within an operational facility with minimum impact on operations or can be used at a fixed location for example to monitor receipts. Imaging NMIS (INMIS) not only characterizes the detailed shape of a containerized object by transmission tomography but determines the presence of fissile material by measuring the emitted radiation from induced fission. Previous work has shown that this type of imaging has a variety of applications other than nuclear material control and accountability (NMC&A). These include nonproliferation applications such as verification of configuration of nuclear weapons/components shipped or received, warhead authentication behind an information barrier, and traceability of weapons components both fissile and non-fissile in dismantlement and counter terrorism. This paper concentrates on the use for NMC&A. Some of the NMC&A applications discussed are: verifying inventory and receipts, making more accurate holdup measurements especially where thicknesses of materials affect gamma ray spectrometry , determining the shape of unknown configurations of fissile materials where the material type may be known but not the form, determining the oxidation of fissile metal in storage cans, fingerprinting the content of storage containers going into a storage facility, and determining unknown configurations for criticality safety.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 975054
• Resource Relation: Conference: ESARDA, Aix en Provence (France), 24 May 2007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
CONFIGURATION
CONTAINERS
CRITICALITY
FISSILE MATERIALS
FISSION
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
MONITORS
NEUTRON GENERATORS
NEUTRONS
OXIDATION
POWER SUPPLIES
PROLIFERATION
RADIATIONS
SAFETY
SHAPE
SPECTROSCOPY
STORAGE
TOMOGRAPHY
VERIFICATION
WEAPONS
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Nuclear Materials and Identification System (NMIS)
Small Portable DT Neutron Generator
Nuclear Material Control and Accountability (NMC&A)
Determining Unknown Configurations