Long Term R&D for Safeguards

Year
2014
Author(s)
Allen Bakel - U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration
Arden Dougan - U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration
Abstract
The spent fuel characterization needs of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) are important factor s in determining the R& D that is sponsored by the NNSA Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D) Office. Several technologies are being developed to directly and quantitatively measure Pu in spent fuel: gamma - ray mirrors, delayed gamma, differential di e away, microcalorimetry and the ultra - high rate germanium detector. Additional work is being done in partial defect detection and neutron detector development to replace 3 He detectors. Brief descriptions of each technology are presented.