Detection of shielded nuclear material in a cargo container

Abstract

The Idaho National Laboratory, along with Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Idaho State University's Idaho Accelerator Center, are developing electron accelerator-based, photonuclear inspection technologies for the detection of shielded nuclear material within air-, rail-, and especially, maritime-cargo transportation containers. This paper describes a developing prototypical cargo container inspection system utilizing the Pulsed Photonuclear Assessment (PPA) technology, incorporates interchangeable, well-defined, contraband shielding structures (i.e., "calibration" pallets) providing realistic detection data for induced radiation signatures from smuggled nuclear material, and provides various shielded nuclear material detection results. Using a 4.8-kg quantity of depleted uranium, neutron and gamma-ray detection responses are presented for well-defined shielded and unshielded configurations evaluated in a selected cargo container inspection configuration.

Macroscopic-microscopic approach to the nuclear fission process

“…Knowledge on nuclear fission is also essential for large range of applications such as the r-process nucleosynthesis [7], production of neutron-rich radioactive beams and super-heavy elements, design of neutron spallation sources and accelerator-driven systems [8], new generation of nuclear power plants [9], or nuclear safety and security [10,11].…”

Radiation Safety Aspects of Linac Operation with Bremsstrahlung Converters

“…Within a few meters, it is possible for 10 keV electrons to be accelerated by the RF linac to up to 20 MeV [1]. Accelerators including linacs have found use in a variety of applications including radiotherapy [2,3], physics [4,5], isotope production [6], cargo inspection [7,8], and non-destructive assay [9,10].…”

Pulsed photofission delayed gamma ray detection for nuclear material identification

“…Delayed signals are emitted seconds or even minutes after the photon irradiation making it easier to be distinguished from the interrogating radiation. Linac-based, advanced inspection techniques utilizing the delayed signals after photon induced fission have been extensively studied for homeland security and safeguards applications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Previous research also showed that a unique delayed gamma ray energy spectrum exists for each fissionable isotope [6-12, 14,15,17, 19-21].…”