Imaging a nuclear reactor using cosmic ray muons

Abstract

The passage of muons through matter is dominated by the Coulomb interaction with electrons and nuclei. The muon interaction with electrons leads to continuous energy loss and stopping of the muons. The muon interaction with nuclei leads to angular diffusion. We present experimental images of a nuclear reactor, the AGN-201M reactor at the University of New Mexico, using data measured with a particle tracker built from a set of sealed drift tubes. The data are compared with a geant4 model. In both the data and simulation, we identify specific regions corresponding to elements of the reactor structure, including its core, moderator, and shield.

Analysis of the multigroup model for muon tomography based threat detection

“…We experimentally obtain muon trajectories with the Mini Muon Tracker (MMT). 19 The MMT is an apparatus, which contains modules of drift tubes that measure the trajectories of passing muons. There are two layers of these drift tubes (supermodules) that surround a central region of interest for imaging.…”

Imaging of a reactor with muons

“…NCA is a research reactor, and used for nuclear-fuel experiments. Though the similar technical demonstrations of the reactor imaging was performed with a mockup reactor at Los Alamos and with a research reactor at University of New Mexico (AGN-201) [25], the advantage of NCA is its capability to test fuel rods similar to the ones at Fukushima Daiichi.…”

Experiments on muon radiography with emulsion track detectors

“…Lately, the capabilities of muon radiography for nuclear reactor monitoring were actively developed [14,15]. The need for such a research became apparent after the devastating accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan [16,17] (see Fig.…”