Year
2008
Abstract
The assessment of the ability of non-destructive assay (NDA) equipment to meet the objectives required by a safeguards approach is an important part of the work of the Department of Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These assessments are extremely important during the planning stages for new equipment to avoid expensive failures. However, it is during this time that a thorough assessment cannot be performed using experimental means because the equipment does not exist. For this reason, the Department has been expanding its ability to perform such assessments using Monte Carlo simulations. Recently, with the addition of MCNPX1 to its suite of calculational tools, this capability was employed to assess whether the substitution of certain nuclear materials can mimic the neutron emissions from mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies, and if so whether this substitution can be detected using neutron methods. In particular, this work focused on the Advanced Fuel Assembly Assay System (AFAS) proposed for the future Japanese MOX fuel fabrication facility. This paper presents the methodology used to make this assessment and some of the results.