The Next Generation Safeguards Initiatives Spent Fuel Nondestructive Assay Project

In 2009, the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) ofthe U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear SecurityAdministration (DOE/NNSA) began a five-year effort to developone or more integrated instruments capable of determiningplutonium mass in, and detecting diversion of pins from, spentcommercial nuclear fuel assemblies using nondestructive assay(NDA). The project began with a rigorous, simulation-basedevaluation of fourteen individual measurement techniquesagainst a virtual library of sixty-four spent fuel assemblies.Efforts have now turned to the construction of three or moreintegrated systems comprised of the most promising andcomplementary techniques that are ready for near- to mediumtermimplementation. Field demonstrations with internationalpartners are in process for the coming years and deploymentpaths are being explored. This paper provides context on theneed and utility of direct and independent plutonium assay inspent fuel, provides an overview of the NGSI project’s status,and introduces a few of the fundamental technical challengesthat must be overcome to enable the practical deployment ofimproved methods of nondestructive spent fuel assay.