Monitoring the thermal power of nuclear reactors with a prototype cubic meter antineutrino detector

Bernstein, Adam; Bowden, N. S.; Misner, Alex C.; Palmer, Todd S.

doi:10.1063/1.2899178

Cited by 58 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…8 This allows one to determine the plutonium content and power level of the reactor core in situ at a standoff distance of 10's of meters. 9 The practical feasibility of reactor monitoring using antineutrinos has also been demonstrated using a small, tonne-size detector at the San Onofre power station, called SONGS, 10 in Pendleton, California.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antineutrino Reactor Safeguards: A Case Study of the DPRK 1994 Nuclear Crisis

Christensen

Jaffke

2015

Science & Global Security

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Antineutrinos have been proposed as a means to safeguard nuclear reactors for more than 30 years and there has been impressive experimental progress in antineutrino detection that makes this method increasingly practical for use by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In this paper we conduct, for the first time, a case study of the application of antineutrino safeguards to a real-world scenario -the North Korean nuclear crisis in 1994. We derive detection limits to a partial or full core discharge in 1989 based on actual IAEA safeguards access and find that two independent methods would have yielded positive evidence for a second core with very high confidence. To generalize our results, we provide detailed estimates for the sensitivity to the plutonium content of various types of reactors, including most types of plutonium production reactors, based on detailed reactor simulations. A key finding of this study is that a wide class of reactors with a thermal power of 0.1-1 GW th can be safeguarded achieving IAEA goals for quantitative sensitivity and timeliness with antineutrino detectors right outside the reactor building. This type of safeguards does not rely on the continuity of knowledge and provides information about core inventory and power status in realtime.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antineutrino Reactor Safeguards: A Case Study of the DPRK 1994 Nuclear Crisis

Christensen

Jaffke

2015

Science & Global Security

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“…-monitoring nuclear reactors [56]; -oscillation and absorption tomography of the Earth; -study of geoneutrinos [57]: creation of the neutrino maps of the Earth; -use of Moessbauer neutrinos for precision measurements; -neutrino communication systems, Galactic communication [58]; -creation of the solar scanners to search for oil and minerals [59], etc.. Practical realizations at least some of these proposals look at present extremely challenging.…”

Section: Neutrino Astrophysics and Astronomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrino-2008: Where are we? Where are we going?

Smirnov

2008

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

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Our present knowledge of neutrinos can be summarized in terms of the "standard neutrino scenario". Phenomenology of this scenario as well as attempts to uncover physics behind neutrino mass and mixing are described. Goals of future studies include complete reconstruction of the neutrino mass and flavor spectrum, further test of the standard scenario and search for new physics beyond it. Developments of new experimental techniques may lead to construction of new neutrino detectors from table-top to multi-Megaton scales which will open new horizons in the field. With detection of neutrino bursts from the Galactic supernova and high energy cosmic neutrinos neutrino astrophysics will enter qualitatively new phase. Neutrinos and LHC (and future colliders), neutrino astronomy, neutrino structure of the Universe, and probably, neutrino technologies will be among leading topics of research. 1978 -Wolfenstein: "Neutrino oscillations in matter". 1988 -Kamiokande-II: the birth of the atmospheric neutrino problem 3 . 1998 -Discovery of oscillations in atmospheric neutrinos. 2008 -Discovery of New Zealand by the neutrino community; the start of LHC. Where are we in space? -about 5000 km (baseline) from IceCube in 3D, somewhere in the electroweak brane, in extra D...Where are we in the field of neutrino physics? The answer includes: "conquest territory"the standard neutrino scenario (sec. 2); understanding neutrino masses and mixing (sec. 3); beyond the standard scenario (sec 4); a future which we know (sec. 5); a future which we can only imagine (sec. 6). Standard neutrino scenario2.1. Standard scenario "Standard neutrino scenario" can be formulated in the following way:• Neutrino interactions are described by the standard electroweak model. • There are only 3 types of light neutrinos (three flavor and three mass states).• Neutrinos are massive. Neutrino masses are in the sub-eV range -much smaller than masses of charged leptons and quarks. • Neutrinos mix. There are two large mixing angles and one small or zero angle. The pattern of lepton mixing strongly differs from that of quarks. • The observed masses and mixing have pure vacuum origin; they are generated at the electroweak, and probably, higher energy scales. These are "hard" masses.3 L. Sulak has informed me on some earlier indications of the anomaly in the IMB results.

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“…A reactor scram (emergency shutdown) could be observed within 5 hours of its occurrence at 99.9% confidence. Integrating the antineutrino detection rate data over a 24 hour period yielded a relative power monitoring precision of about 8%, while increasing the averaging period to 7 days yielded a precision of about 3% [14]. Increasing the averaging time to 30 days allowed observation of the fuel burnup [15] (Fig.…”

Section: The Songs1 Detectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Reactor monitoring and safeguards using antineutrino detectors

Bowden

2008

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

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Nuclear reactors have served as the antineutrino source for many fundamental physics experiments. The techniques developed by these experiments make it possible to use these very weakly interacting particles for a practical purpose. The large flux of antineutrinos that leaves a reactor carries information about two quantities of interest for safeguards: the reactor power and fissile inventory. Measurements made with antineutrino detectors could therefore offer an alternative means for verifying the power history and fissile inventory of a reactors, as part of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other reactor safeguards regimes. Several efforts to develop this monitoring technique are underway across the globe.

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Monitoring the thermal power of nuclear reactors with a prototype cubic meter antineutrino detector

Cited by 58 publications

References 9 publications

Antineutrino Reactor Safeguards: A Case Study of the DPRK 1994 Nuclear Crisis

Antineutrino Reactor Safeguards: A Case Study of the DPRK 1994 Nuclear Crisis

Neutrino-2008: Where are we? Where are we going?

Reactor monitoring and safeguards using antineutrino detectors

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