Summary
The Division of Subatomic and Plasma Physics in Chalmers, formerly the Division of Nuclear Engineering, has performed research in nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation since 2004, with support from SSM and its predecessor, SKI. Due to various organizational and personnel changes in Chalmers, this research was pursued with limited resources and personnel during 2016-06-30 – 2017-12-31 with a research grant, Dnr SSM2016-662 from SSM, with undersigned (I.P.) as the project leader. The research was concentrated on two main subjects:
- Developing a method for multiplicity counting from the continuous current signals of fission chambers;
- Feasibility study of a method of detecting the absence of one or more missing or replaced fuel pins in a spent fuel assembly, from neutron measurements with the help of a cluster of fibre detectors.
The research in both subjects was performed in collaboration with the Institute of Nuclear Techniques, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Hungary. In addition, some work was done on the treatment of “cross-talk” in multiplicity measurements with scintillation detectors for fast neutrons. This latter was performed in cooperation with the DNNG group of the University of Michigan, where the majority of the work was made. Undersigned project leader also attended an evaluation meeting of a NNSA-supported safeguards consortium in Ann Arbor on 16 February 2017.
Between 5 December 2016 and 31 May 2017 we hosted a visitor from Japan, Yasunori Kitamura, with whom we have also collaborated in the past through his visits. During his recent stay he was working on the statistics of fission chamber currents for both reactor diagnostics and safeguards problems. This research has strong connections with item 1) above, and will come to a good use in the continuation.
This report gives an account of
- The work performed in the above subjects
- List of publications
- Conference and workshop participations, session organisations
- National and international collaborations, visitors
Finally, plans for the continuation of the research are given.