Title:

Antineutrinos for reactor safeguards: effect of fuel loading and burnup on the signal

Speaker:

Dr. Anna Erickson

Affiliation:

Georgia Tech, NRE

When:

Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Boggs Building, Room 3-47

Host:

Dr. Chaitanya Deo
chaitanya.deo@me.gatech.edu
404-385-4928

Abstract

Antineutrino remote reactor monitoring [1] is a novel tool suggested for future advanced nuclear safeguards applications. In this talk, the methodology of reactor antineutrino detection [2] is reviewed, and the results of a realistic light water reactor monitoring case study are discussed. The study focuses on the ability of the detector to track Mixed Pu-U Oxide (MOX) fuel throughout the cycle. One of the main challenges of using MOX fuel is assurance that Pu-containing assemblies have achieved appropriate burnup and were not removed from the core. We show that it is possible to verify assembly-level burnup using information derived from an antineutrino detector if the nominal reactor fuel loading is known. Alternatively, if the core power is measured using an independent method, for example a thermal hydraulic element, and the nominal core behavior is known, the antineutrino detector has a capability to determine previously unknown MOX loading in the core. [1] Bowden et al., NIM A 572, 985-998, (2007) [2] A. Bernstein, et. al., J. Appl. Phys. 103 (2008) 074905

Biography

Dr. Anna Erickson is an Assistant Professor at Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Program, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, at Georgia Institute of Technology. The focus of her research is on the development of non-traditional radiation detectors, methods of nuclear security and safeguards, and advanced reactor development. Anna Erickson obtained her PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in May 2011 and was a postdoc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Advanced Detectors Group. Erickson was DOE NNSA Stewardship Science Graduate Fellow for three years during her PhD studies.