Utilizing Antineutrinos for Nuclear Reactor Core Monitoring
Plutonium can be clandestinely removed from reactors for nuclear weapons, with neutrinos emitted by reactors providing insights into core contents. Neutrino detectors require high efficiency, energy resolution, and strategic placement. Although detectors meeting these criteria exist, they are not all integrated simultaneously.
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Using Antineutrinos to Determine the Content of Nuclear Reactor Cores Isaac Yandow
This sounds hard. Why bother? U-238 Pu-239 Nuclear Weapons? International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can t say: Shut down everything! Let me see your core. IAEA can say: All reactors must include neutrino detectors whose data we can see. Neutrinos carry info about the reactor
This sounds useful. What can neutrinos tell us? Power spectrum Neutrino spectrum Beta spectrum Decay products Uranium and Plutonium decay product distributions are well known % Energy Deficit
This sounds easy. Why havent we done it? Many background neutrinos Solar Neutrinos/day 1020/m2 Reactor Neutrinos at 300m 1020/m2 Reactor Neutrinos at 25m 1022/m2 Must simulate reactor core (tricky and different for every core) Need high neutrino energy resolution Average U-235 Neutrino energy=2.94MeV Average Pu-239 Neutrino energy=2.84MeV Percent difference =3.5% Should be able to detect 2kg Pu removal from 200kg produced/year Will neutrino oscillation mess things up? Nope. P( e ,r=30m) 10-8
This sounds hard again. Is it possible? Kind of! Can t be secret, must have detector very near reactor IAEA estimates fuel to weapon time is 30 to 90 days Recent advancements in neutrino detection (oscillation experiments) Newest detectors can achieve required 3% energy resolution (e.g. JUNO) San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) has test detector!
I dont even know how this sounds like anymore. Mind summarizing for me? Gladly Plutonium can be secretly removed from reactors for nuclear weapons Reactors emit lots of neutrinos Neutrino energies tell us about core contents and how they change Useful neutrino detector needs: high efficiency, great energy resolution, very good location (ideally works above ground) We currently have detectors that meet all prerequisites Just not all at the same time
Sources: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2014/aug/12/using- antineutrinos-to-monitor-nuclear-reactors https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0704/0704.0891.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S17385733160004 98
