Design of a Portable Antineutrino Detector for Nuclear Reactor Monitoring

Abstract

A design is proposed for a cubic metre scale antineutrino detector that can be deployed at ground level near a nuclear reactor. The lack of overburden necessitates good background rejection that is achieved using pulse shape discrimination and segmentation. A muon veto system and a large amount of neutron shielding are also used to discriminate against background. Antineutrinos are detected by inverse beta decay reactions in 75 liquid scintillator filled cells. A few simple modeling exercises are discussed, demonstrating the ability of the detector to detect both diversion of plutonium and fluctuations in reactor power by the change in antineutrino rate.