An Advanced High Sensitivity Digital Cerenkov Viewing Device

The current Cerenkov Viewing Device (CVD) used by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors has difficulty in verifying very long-cooled spent fuel (>30 years). The IAEA has requested an instrument be developed to verify fuel with a burnup of 10 000 MWd/t U and a cooling time of 40 years. Forty years is about the lifetime of a power generating reactor and the burnup for its first fuel charge can be less than the design burnup of approximately 20 000 MWd/t U. The new DCVD instrument uses an electron multiplied CCD detector with a lumogen coating that provides ultraviolet light sensitivity. This paper shows that this instrument can meet the IAEA measurement requirement, discusses the ability to detect non-fuel assemblies, spent fuel verification capability and other beneficial safeguard features.