Imaging of Nuclear Weapon Trainers
- National Security Technologies, LLC. (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States)
The Configurable Muon Tracker (CMT) is an adaptation of the existing drift tube detector commercially available from Decision Sciences International Corporation (DSIC). NSTec engineered the CMT around commercially available drift tube assemblies to make a detector that is more versatile than previous drift tube assemblies. The CMT became operational in February 2013. Traditionally, cosmic-ray muon trackers rely on near-vertical trajectory muons for imaging. Since there are scenarios where imaging using vertical trajectory muons is not practical, NSTec designed the CMT specifically for quick configurability to track muons from any trajectory. The CMT was originally designed to be changed from vertical imaging mode to horizontal imaging mode in a few hours with access to a crane or other lifting equipment. In FY14, locations for imaging weapon trainers and SNM were identified and it was determined that lifting equipment would not typically be available in experimental areas. The CMT was further modified and a portable lifting system was developed to allow reconfiguration of the CMT without access to lifting equipment at the facility. This system was first deployed at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s W-division, where several trainers were imaged in both horizontal and vertical modes. Real-time images have been compared in both modes showing that imaging can be done in both modes with the expected longer integration time for horizontal mode. Further imaging and post processing of the data is expected to continue into early FY15.
- Research Organization:
- National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25946
- OSTI ID:
- 1411741
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/NV/25946-3412
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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