Discriminating Uranium Isotopes Based on Fission Signatures Induced by Delayed Neutrons

Ogren, K.; Nattress, J.; Jovanovic, Igor

doi:10.1103/physrevapplied.14.014033

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Because 235 U has a much higher fission cross-section than 238 U at typical delayed-neutron energies, the HEU should be distinguishable from DU based on the presence of prompt fission products in the delayed signal. Measurements of the delayed-neutron energy spectrum and the rate of delayed coincidence events confirmed this hypothesis 16 . Finally, delayed neutron profile measurements were conducted with neutron-moderating shielding surrounding the uranium test objects.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…These experiments focus on neutron active interrogation techniques for characterizing uranium objects based on measurement of induced delayed-neutron signatures. We demonstrate uranium isotopic discrimination 15 and estimation of enrichment based on measurement of the buildup and decay time profiles of long-lived delayed neutron groups 16 , 17 . These profile shapes can be derived from nuclear data and provide a method for estimating uranium enrichment without the need for a calibration standard.…”

Section: Experimental Setupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Detecting and characterizing special nuclear material for nuclear nonproliferation applications

Pozzi

Hutchinson

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is an urgent need for new, better instrumentation and techniques for detecting and characterizing special nuclear material (SNM), i.e., highly enriched uranium and plutonium. The development of improved instruments and techniques requires experiments performed with the SNM itself, which is of limited availability. This paper describes the findings of experiments performed at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center conducted using new instruments and techniques on unclassified, kg-quantity SNM objects. These experiments, performed in the framework of the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification, focused on detecting, characterizing, and localizing SNM samples with masses ranging from 3.3 to 13.8 kg, including plutonium and highly enriched uranium using prototype detectors and techniques. The work demonstrates SNM detection and characterization using recently-developed prototype detection systems. Specifically, we present new results in passive detection and imaging of plutonium and uranium objects using gamma-ray and dual particle (fast neutron and gamma-ray) imaging. We also present a new analysis of the delayed neutron emissions during active interrogation of uranium using a neutron generator.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%