Assessment of the Fingerprinting Method for the Verification of Spent Fuel in MACSTOR KN-400 CANDU Spent-Fuel Dry Storage

Chandregowda, Nandan Gowthahalli; Chirayath, Sunil S.; Charlton, William; Ham, Young; Sitaraman, S; Ahn, Gil Hoon

doi:10.13182/nt13-a24989

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Previous studies on verifying the content of metallic dry storage casks via measurements of neutrons and photons which escape the cask shielding has shown that these probes cannot provide sufficient information to determine if fuel has been removed from the center of the cask [8][9][10][11]. More recent work has shown that the neutron deficit, following the removal of low-burnup bundles, can be obscured by replacing some of them with highburnup fuel with a larger neutron emission rate [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verifying Spent Fuel Containers Before Deep Geological Storage with Cosmic Ray Muons

Poulson¹,

Durham²,

Bacon³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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International nuclear safeguards inspectors do not have a method to verify the contents of sealed storage casks containing spent reactor fuel. The heavy shielding that is used to limit radiation emission attenuates and scatters photons and neutrons emitted by the fuel, and thereby hinders inspection with these probes. This problem is especially pressing given the policy decisions of several nations to begin permanent disposal of spent fuel in deep geological repositories. Radiography with cosmic-ray muons provides a potential solution, as muons are able to penetrate the cask and fuel and provide information on the cask contents. Here we show in simulation that muon scattering radiography can be used to inspect the contents of sealed geological storage casks, and can discern between a variety of plausible diversion scenarios. This technique can be applied immediately prior to permanent interment in a geological repository, giving inspectors a final opportunity to verify State declarations of spent fuel disposal.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%