6533b820fe1ef96bd1279167
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Antineutrino monitoring of spent nuclear fuel
Vedran BrdarJoachim KoppPatrick Hubersubject
010308 nuclear & particles physicsNuclear engineeringDetectorGeneral Physics and AstronomyFluxRadioactive wasteFOS: Physical sciences01 natural sciencesSpent nuclear fuel3. Good healthHigh Energy Physics - ExperimentOverburdenHigh Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)High Energy Physics - PhenomenologyHigh Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)0103 physical sciencesElectromagnetic shieldingEnvironmental scienceNeutrinoNuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)010306 general physicsNuclear ExperimentLeakage (electronics)description
Military and civilian applications of nuclear energy have left a significant amount of spent nuclear fuel over the past 70 years. Currently, in many countries world wide, the use of nuclear energy is on the rise. Therefore, the management of highly radioactive nuclear waste is a pressing issue. In this letter, we explore antineutrino detectors as a tool for monitoring and safeguarding nuclear waste material. We compute the flux and spectrum of antineutrinos emitted by spent nuclear fuel elements as a function of time, and we illustrate the usefulness of antineutrino detectors in several benchmark scenarios. In particular, we demonstrate how a measurement of the antineutrino flux can help to re-verify the contents of a dry storage cask in case the monitoring chain by conventional means gets disrupted. We then comment on the usefulness of antineutrino detectors at long-term storage facilities such as Yucca mountain. Finally, we put forward antineutrino detection as a tool in locating underground "hot spots" in contaminated areas such as the Hanford site in Washington state.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-06-20 |