FY09 Advanced Instrumentation and Active Interrogation Research for Safeguards

Multiple small-scale projects have been undertaken to investigate advanced instrumentation solutions for safeguard measurement challenges associated with advanced fuel cycle facilities and next-generation fuel reprocessing installations. These activities are in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Cycle Research and Development program and its Materials Protection, Accounting, and Control for Transmutation (MPACT) campaign. 1) Work was performed in a collaboration with the University of Michigan (Prof. Sara Pozzi, co-PI) to investigate the use of liquid-scintillator radiation detectors for assaying mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, to characterize its composition and to develop advanced digital pulse-shape discrimination algorithms for performing time-correlation measurements in the MOX fuel environment. This work included both simulations and experiments and has shown that these techniques may provide a valuable approach for use within advanced safeguard measurement scenarios. 2) Work was conducted in a collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Dr. Paul Hausladen, co-PI) to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the fast-neutron coded-aperture imaging technique for locating and characterizing fissile material, and as a tool for performing hold-up measurements in fissile material handling facilities. This work involved experiments at Idaho National Laboratory, using MOX fuel and uranium metal, in both passive and active interrogation configurations. A complete analysis has not yet been completed but preliminary results suggest several potential uses for the fast neutron imaging technique. 3) Work was carried out to identify measurement approaches for determining nitric acid concentration in the range of 1 – 4 M and beyond. This work included laboratory measurements to investigate the suitability of prompt-gamma neutron activation analysis for this measurement and product reviews of other commercial solutions. Ultrasonic density analysis appears to be the best candidate technology for determining nitric acid concentrations but the PGNAA approach may also be applicable. 4) Work was also carried out to begin investigating the use of remote UV imaging to detect air-ionization induced by alpha particle emission from plutonium. This approach has been shown elsewhere as a useful tool for detecting and quantifying plutonium contamination and has the potential of providing a unique and powerful approach for quantifying hold-up in reprocessing facilities. Based on these simple scoping experiments the potential far-reaching capabilities of the measurement are clear