Advanced non-destructive methods for criticality safety and safeguards of used nuclear fuel

Research output

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Abstract

The safeguards verification of spent nuclear fuel is one of the major concern for the safeguards community, as this material represents about 80% of all material placed under safeguards. This PhD thesis described the development of two passive non-destructive assay (NDA) techniques: the Self-Indication Neutron Resonance Densitometry (SINRD) and the Partial Defect Tester (PDET).
The NDA methods were investigated with Monte Carlo simulations and the benchmark experiments for SINRD were performed at the GELINA facility of JRC-Geel in Belgium.
The results for the SINRD technique showed promising results for the direct quantification of 239Pu in spent fuel, and both techniques gave encouraging results for the detection of partial defects.
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Borella, Alessandro, SCK CEN Mentor
  • van der Meer, Klaas, SCK CEN Mentor
  • Labeau, Pierre-Etienne, Supervisor, External person
  • Pauly, Nicolas, Supervisor, External person
Sponsors
Date of Award30 Sep 2016
Place of PublicationBruxelles, Belgium
Publisher
StatePublished - 2016

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