EVALUATION OF ACOUSTICAL HOLOGRAPHY FOR THE INSPECTION OF LIGHT WATER REACTOR WELD ASSEMBLIES

The primary objective of this program was the evaluation of acoustical holography techniques for characterization of the light water reactor weld surface signatures in the nuclear safeguards program. The accurate characterization of weld surface irregulari ties and vertical deviations was achieved using acoustical holographic interferometric techniques. Preselected weld surfaces were inspected and the vertical deviations characterized by phase measurements or fringe densities in the image. Experimental results on Sandia samples verify depth deviation sensitivities of 0.11 {micro}m to 0.16 {micro}m. The two point interferogram technique is recommended for surveillance of the weld surface associated wi th fuel rod removal in the nuclear safeguard program. The use of this unique holographic signal processing provides essentially a fail-safe method for surveillance of clandestine fuel rod removal. Statistical analysis indicates 99.99% (weld surface deviation) confidence interval between 2~m and 3~m can be achieved. These results illustrate the extremely high resolution capabilities of the surveillance technique employing coherent signal processing