Antineutrinos are electrically neutral, nearly massless fundamental particles produced in large numbers in the cores of nuclear reactors and in nuclear explosions. In the half century since their discovery, major advances in the understanding of their properties, and in detector technology, have opened the door to a new discipline -Applied Antineutrino Physics. Because antineutrinos are inextricably linked to the process of nuclear fission, many applications of interest are in nuclear nonproliferation.The current state of the art in antineutrino detection is such that it is now possible to monitor the operational status, power levels, and fissile content of nuclear reactors in real time with simple detectors at distances of a few tens of meters. This has already been demonstrated at civil power reactors in Russia and the United States, with detectors designed specifically for reactor monitoring and safeguards 1,2 . This existing near-field monitoring capability may be useful in the context of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Safeguards Regime 3 , and other cooperative monitoring regimes, such as the proposed Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty 4Though not part of any existing treaty, today's technology would allow cooperative monitoring, discovery or exclusion of small (few MegaWatt thermal, MWt) reactors at standoff distances up to 10 kilometers. In principle, discovery and exclusion is also possible at longer ranges, as is standoff nuclear explosion detection at the kiloton level. However, the required detector masses are 10-100 times greater than the state of the art, and achieving these long range detection goals would require significant research and development on several fronts. Many elements of the necessary R&D program are already being pursued in the fundamental physics community, in the form of very large neutrino detection experiments.Antineutrino detectors are likely not useful for detection or monitoring of quiescent, non-critical fissile materials, regardless of the amount of material or the size of the detector, because emission rates from these materials are vastly lower than from critical systems.
2This white paper presents a comprehensive survey of applied antineutrino physics relevant for nonproliferation, summarizes recent advances in the field, describes the overlap of this nascent discipline with other ongoing fundamental and applied antineutrino research, and charts a course for research and development for future applications. It is intended as a resource for policymakers, researchers, and the wider nuclear nonproliferation community.The conclusions and recommendations of this white paper are: 1) Practical mear-field (<100 m) monitoring of pressurized water reactors with antineutrino detectors has been demonstrated 1,2 , and offers a promising complement to existing reactor monitoring methods for IAEA and other safeguards regimes. We recommend further investigation of near-field antineutrino monitoring capabilities for providing reactor operational status, thermal power and fiss...