Neutron resonance analysis for nuclear safeguards and security applications

Abstract

Abstract. Neutron-induced reactions can be used to study the properties of nuclear materials of interest in the fields of nuclear safeguards and security. The elemental and isotopic composition of these materials can be determined by using the presence of resonance structures. This idea is the basis of two non-destructive analysis techniques which have been developed at the GELINA neutron time-of-flight facility at JRC-Geel: Neutron Resonance Capture Analysis (NRCA) and Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis (NRTA). A combination of NRTA and NRCA has been proposed for the characterisation of particle-like debris of melted fuel formed in severe nuclear accidents. In this work, we present a quantitative validation of the NRTA technique which was used to determine the areal densities of Pu enriched reference samples used for safeguards applications. Less than 2% bias has been obtained for the fissile isotopes, with well-known total cross sections.

Neutron cross section measurements for BUC approaches

“…More information on the experimental capabilities of GELINA facility are discussed in Ref. [4]. For the BUC programme three stations have been used, a capture measurement station at FP5-10m and two transmission stations at FP13-10m and one at FP4-50m.…”

Non-destructive analysis of samples with a complex geometry by NRTA

“…The potential of NRTA to analyse nuclear materials containing plutonium was shown by transmission measurements at a 10 m station of GELINA using a set of PuO 2 reference samples with different isotopic composition. 17 For complex samples like debris of melted fuel or cylindrical pellets the thickness of the object in the direction of the neutron beam is not constant. Therefore, the basic Lambert-Beer law cannot be applied and special analysis procedures are required to apply NRTA.…”

Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis with a Compact Deuterium-Tritium Neutron Generator

“…In the past NRTA has found applications in fields as broad as nuclear engineering, nuclear physics, and archaeology [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Furthermore, past work in arms control has demonstrated the applicability of NRTA for problems of treaty verification [12,13].…”