Active interrogation of shielded fissionable material using a pulsed bremsstrahlung source

Author

Hutcheson, Anthony L. ; Phlips, Bernard F. ; Weber, B.V. ; Wulf, Eric A.

Author_Institution

High Energy Space Environ. Branch, U.S. Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

Oct. 27 2013-Nov. 2 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

Passive detection of shielded special nuclear material (SNM) is a difficult problem, particularly at standoff distances. The SuperMISTI coded imaging and detection system was used with pulsed bremsstrahlung at the Hermes-III facility at Sandia National Laboratories to study active interrogation techniques as an alternative method of detecting shielded SNM. A combination of high- and low-Z shielding of varying thicknesses was used. Delayed gamma and neutron signatures were measured using NaI and ³He detectors, and signal-to-background ratios were calculated. Experimental setup details and results will be presented.

Keywords

bremsstrahlung; fission reactor materials; helium-3 counters; Hermes-III facility; Sandia National Laboratories; SuperMISTI coded imaging; active interrogation techniques; detection system; high-Z shielding; low-Z shielding; pulsed bremsstrahlung source; shielded fissionable material; signal-to-background ratios; special nuclear material; Nuclear measurements; Steel;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC), 2013 IEEE

Conference_Location

Seoul

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-0533-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.2013.6829528

Filename

6829528