Nondestructive assay of plutonium and minor actinide in spent fuel using nuclear resonance fluorescence with laser Compton scattering γ-rays

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• 作者：Takehito Hayakawa ; Nobuhiro Kikuzawa ; Ryoichi Hajima ; Toshiyuki Shizuma ; Nobuyuki Nishimori ; Mamoru Fujiwara ; Michio Seya
• 关键词：Spent fuel ; Safeguards of nuclear materials ; Nondestructive assay
• 刊名：Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
• 出版年：2010
• 出版时间：1 September 2010-21 September 2010
• 年：2010
• 卷：621
• 期：1-3
• 页码：695-700
• 全文大小：539 K

文摘

We propose a new nondestructive assay method for ²³⁵U, ²³⁹Pu, and minor actinides in spent nuclear fuel assembly in a water pool. Nuclear fuel materials are detected using nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) with laser Compton scattering (LCS) γ-rays. The NRF assay can provide a finger print of each isotope since the NRF γ-ray energy is characteristic of a specific nuclide. We design a high-flux LCS γ-ray source, in which γ-rays are generated by collision of laser photons provided from Yb-doped fiber laser and electrons from energy recovery linac. This system has following advantages; this can detect isotopes of most elements behind heavy materials such as uranium of a thickness of several centimeters, and analyze the fuel assembly in a water pool. A simulation calculation shows that we can detect 1 % fraction ²³⁹Pu in all the fuel rods with statistical error lower than 2 % using the high flux LCS γ-ray source and the measurement time of 4000 s.