Muon Tomography for Imaging Nuclear Waste and Spent Fuel Verification

Abstract

This paper explores the use of cosmic ray muons to image the content of, and to detect high-Z special nuclear material inside, shielded containers. 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 content of Dry Storage Containers (DSC) 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 to perform material accountancy, in the case of the DSC, exceeds the IAEA detection target for nuclear material accountancy.