Nuclear waste imaging and spent fuel verification by muon tomography

This paper explores the use of cosmic ray muons to image the contents of shielded containers and detect high-Z special nuclear materials inside them. Cosmic ray muons are a naturally occurring form of radiation, are highly penetrating and exhibit large scattering angles on high-Z materials. Specifically, we investigated how radiographic and tomographic techniques can be effective for non-invasive nuclear waste characterization and for nuclear material accountancy of spent fuel inside dry storage containers. We show that the tracking of individual muons, as they enter and exit a structure, can potentially improve the accuracy and availability of data on nuclear waste and the contents of Dry Storage Containers (DSCs) used for spent fuel storage at CANDU® plants. This could be achieved in near real time, with the potential for unattended and remotely monitored operations. We show that the expected sensitivity, in the case of the DSC, exceeds the IAEA detection target for nuclear material accountancy.

► Cosmic muons may be used to image the content of spent nuclear fuel containers. ► Cosmic rays muons may be used to image nuclear material in nuclear waste. ► Cosmic muons can improve the accuracy of data on nuclear waste. ► Muon tracking improves the nuclear material accountancy of Dry Storage Containers. ► Imaging of DSC exceeds the IAEA detection target for nuclear material accountancy.