Monitoring of Spent Nuclear Fuel Integrity with Muon Imaging

C56-41b-274472Until a final decision is made on the geological depository of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), the majority of it will continue to be stored in dry cask storage systems, primarily composed of welded dry storage canisters. Ensuring the safe storage of aging SNF within these canisters is crucial and requires verification and demonstration of the integrity of the SNF during extended storage periods and transportation. However, due to the heavy shielding inherent in all cask designs, direct imaging and monitoring of the SNF inside the canisters is challenging, preventing the use of many radiographic techniques that rely on the detection of high-energy photons or neutrons. Cosmic-ray muons provide an alternative radiographic probe that is particularly well-suited for imaging very dense objects. Scattering muon tomography was invented at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) approximately 20 years ago and has since demonstrated its efficiency for imaging dense and high-Z materials, including special nuclear materials, although not exclusively. The imaging capabilities of muon imaging make it a natural choice for non-destructive analysis methods to demonstrate the integrity of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) inside dry casks. During Phase I, Decision Sciences will collaborate with LANL to validate the concept of muon tomography for imaging spent nuclear fuel inside casks and to develop a conceptual design of the SFINX detector system, which is specifically designed for this purpose. Our conceptual design will be supported and validated by simulations and demonstration experiments. The success of this project will establish muon tomography as a valuable tool for ensuring the safe and secure storage of spent nuclear fuel and improving the management of nuclear waste in general.