DEVELOPMENT OF AIMS HYBRID TOOL FOR ACTIVE INTERROGATION

Year
2013
Author(s)
William Walters - Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, University of Florida
Alireza Haghighat - Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, University of Florida
Katherine Royston - Virginia Tech
Abstract
The AIMS (Active Interrogation for Monitoring Special-nuclear-materials) software has been developed for determination of gamma current at the detector window of a source-detector assembly scanning across a cargo container. AIMS uses a novel response function methodology that solves three coupled sub-problems to obtain the gamma current. This paper discusses brie?y the theory and provides results of the three steps for the case of a D-T source interrogating a cargo container with a sphere of HEU in different cargo materials including third-density water, half-density water, and wood. Using a pre-calculated database of adjoint functions and response coef?cients, the AIMS software has been compared with MCNP5 predictions. The AIMS calculations are completed in minutes as compared to days and months of MCNP Monte Carlo calculations. This makes AIMS an excellent tool for real-time inspection.