Imaging Spent Nuclear Fuel with Muon Tomography

There are about 300,000 metric tons of nuclear waste in the world, most of it is spent fuel from nuclear reactors that is stored for a long term in specially designed dry casks. Nuclear material accountancy relies on the continuation of knowledge (CoK) -however, for a variety of reasons CoK can be lost, as the material is stored for decades. Direct inspection of the casks is very difficult, dangerous and expensive because of highly radioactive materials contained wherein. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and relevant national organizations recognize the need to develop advanced safeguard equipment that would establish and maintain knowledge of spent fuel at all points in the life cycle. Muon tomography capabilities are ideally suited for this need. Because of their uniquely high penetration, cosmic-ray muons can go through the heavily shielded casks. Their scattering is highly sensitive to special nuclear material inside the cask. Decision Sciences developed unique capabilities in manufacturing low-cost, robust and reliable charged particle detectors that can be deployed anywhere the material is stored. Our image reconstruction algorithms developed in close collaboration with scientists of Los Alamos National Laboratory can provide 3D images of the material inside the casks. This technology allows in situ inspection of the casks and nuclear material accounting without the need for expensive handling and dangerous opening of the casks. In this presentation we discuss results of performed studies, as well as a potential of the technology.