1 / 21

Background

Monitoring Solutions for Nuclear Materials Safeguards S. A. McElhaney, R. Lucero & M. Clapham BIL Solutions Inc. 4001 Office Court Drive #800 Santa Fe, NM 87507 , USA 505 424 6660. Background.

jody
Download Presentation

Background

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Monitoring Solutions for Nuclear Materials SafeguardsS. A. McElhaney, R. Lucero & M. Clapham BIL Solutions Inc. 4001 Office Court Drive #800Santa Fe, NM 87507, USA505 424 6660

  2. Background BIL is a world leader in the measurement and characterization of radioactive materials. BIL’s history and evolution is as follows: • BIL Solutions began as Pajarito Scientific Corp. (PSC), a technology transfer company, in 1986. • British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL, plc) purchased PSC in 1995. • BNFL Instruments Inc. (BII) was officially changed from PSC in 1997. • BII changed its name toBIL Solutions, Inc. (BIL)in 2005. • BIL was sold by BNFL and changed it’s name to PSC Solutions in 2007. PSC Solutions, Inc. is now a small, American owned business.

  3. Areas of Expertise BIL’s experience covers the major nuclear applications areas including: • NDA Program Development & Implementation • Instrumentation Design & Development • Waste Monitoring and Certification • WIPP Characterization • Decommissioning • Process Monitoring and Control Systems • Spent Fuel Characterization • Measurement Solutions for Nuclear Material Accountancy & Safeguards

  4. Measurement Solutions for Nuclear Material Accountancy & Safeguards • Safeguards instrumentation and methodology must continue to evolve to meet new challenges and better understand existing challenges • Advancing safeguards measurements require early modeling and analysis of facility processes as well as integration of “state-of-the-art” and innovative measurement systems • Safeguards solutions need to focus on the overall picture • Technology development needs include advanced instrumentation, portable NDA capability, unattended and remote monitoring, containment and surveillance, and data integration and analysis

  5. Measurement Solutions for Nuclear Material Accountancy & Safeguards • BIL offers a worldwide capability in Accountancy and Safeguards based on over 25 years of experience. We strive to provide innovative solutions such as: • FissTrack™ Instrumentation • Neutron Counting Electronics • PeakDoctor Spectral Analysis Software • RadScan® 800 Gamma Imager • Spent Fuel Monitoring

  6. FissTrack™ Instrumentation The new FissTrack™ range of instruments and systems offers significant benefits through the integration of advanced measurement techniques with sophisticated data processing, analysis, and retrieval systems.

  7. FissTrack™ Instrumentation Design The FissTrack™ design has been used in: • Plutonium or MOX Inventory Monitoring System • Plutonium Can Contents Monitor • Plutonium Hold-Up Monitor • Tracer Portable Hold-Up Monitor

  8. FissTrack™ Instrumentation Benefits • Tamper-resistant supporting full data security • Remote maintenance and communications capability • Enhanced electronic noise immunity • Continuous, real-time systems status checking • Full retrospective analysis of stored data

  9. Neutron Electronics • The neutron signal collection and data processing technology is based on the “time stamping” of pulses from individual neutron detectors. • The system has taken neutron detection technology away from cable-heavy radial architectures to a simple distributed ring system with local processing nodes that can be flexibly configured for various neutron counting applications.

  10. Neutron Electronics Design ● Small low-cost, high efficiency, amplifiers, which are close-coupled to the detectors ● Simplification of detector cabling to use composite detector cable to provide both the power to amplifiers and return signal path for neutron pulses ● Distributed microcontroller Hub units are used as local nodes to power the amplifiers and process commands sent to them from the Data Acquisition Computer (DAC) for monitoring or control purposes ● Hubs assign each neutron event a detector address which is transmitted via a high speed Fiber Optic Data Ring to the DAC ● Minimization of “Dead Time” is achieved by each Hub de-randomizing concurrent neutron events – important for coincidence and multiplicity counting ● Neutron event timestamp is added to the Hub/detector address on arrival at the DAC ● Software data acquisition is performed by analysis of “time stamped” data stream ● Remote diagnostics and control of Hubs from the DAC ● Flexibility of configuration and application using only three standard modules

  11. Neutron Electronics Benefits • Accuracy and Sensitivity – high count rates with very low dead times. • Scalability – System can accommodate up to 240 detectors distributed over 30 Hubs on a single fiber optic. • Flexibility - Detectors can be grouped in any configuration and many types of counting analysis performed. Data can be acquired individually for each detector, combined in groups, or as a system total, and each individual detector may be used in more than one grouping. • Maintenance and Diagnostics – Easy to maintain and remote diagnostic and status signals are sent back from Hubs allowing automatic system monitoring and alarming of malfunctions. • Tamperproof - Fiber optic data ring is monitored for continuity and tampering by means of watchdog signals. This improves the tamper-proofing of the system and enhances its applicability within regulatory environments.

  12. PeakDoctor Spectral Analysis • PeakDoctor is a highly sophisticated gamma spectroscopy analysis tool designed to provide extremely accurate peak fit quantification for a wide range of gamma spectroscopy data (high and low resolution). • BIL Solutions is engaged with Los Alamos National Laboratory (N-2, WS-LLWD and TT groups) in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to commercialize the software. • The initial commercial version utilizes a user-friendly LabView based programming platform. • The routine is focused on precisely evaluating spectral data in order to maximize the accuracy of two key components of spectral analysis • 1) the net counts in all photopeak regions • 2) nuclide identification

  13. PeakDoctor Design Features • PeakDoctor is extremely interactive allowing the skills of the analyst to guide the routine through a number of analysis steps. • Extensive and specialized radionuclide libraries are used in PeakDoctor to optimize gamma-ray energy calibration – and, thus isotopic identification. • Advanced features include: • 1) Step peak fitting • 2) Backscatter and Compton Edge fitting • 3) Peak tailing correction • Such advanced peak fitting options are not available or easily accomplished in current commercially available peak fitting software.

  14. PeakDoctor User Interface

  15. PeakDoctor User Interface

  16. RadScan® 800 Gamma Imager • RadScan remotely locates and efficiently characterizes gamma hotspots in a wide variety of environments including building surfaces, cells, and in/on gloveboxes and process vessels. • RadScan maps and records the distribution and intensity of the measured radiation using spectral data and real-time color video images which may be viewed remotely.

  17. RadScan® 800 Gamma Imager Benefits • Unique, remote-operated gamma spectroscopy imager • Performs radiation surveys quickly and safely • Compact and robust • Locates and characterizes nuclides in elevated gamma-emitting areas • Exceptionally accurate

  18. Spent Fuel Monitoring • The Spent Fuel Monitoring system is based on over 20 years experience in the development and use of spent fuel systems in the US and UK. • The Spent Fuel Monitoring Service provides an independent verification of fuel characteristics. • Characterization of spent nuclear fuel • Measurement of burnup and cooling time • Measurement of axial burnup profile • Measurement data may be used for burnup credit allowing considerable cost savings in spent fuel storage, transport and disposal

  19. Spent Fuel Monitoring Design • Measurement based on High Resolution Gamma Spectroscopy • Detection system is mounted onto side of storage pool in fixed orientation • Fuel assemblies delivered to the monitoring position with standard handling equipment • Data acquisition depends on required throughput and precision • System is robust and designed to be in contact with fuel during measurement to guarantee positional accuracy • Gamma collimator is enclosed in the housing which defines a fixed field of view for the fuel, enables very good repeatability and precision to be obtained while allowing short measurement times.

  20. Spent Fuel Monitoring Performance • Turnkey burnup and cooling time verification for spent nuclear fuel • High relsolution germanium gamma detector (HRGS) • Fuel Types PWR, BWR, SGHWR fuel, enrichments up to 4% w/%, up to 30 years cooled • Burnup – uncertainty better than 4% • Cooling time (depending on age of fuel) – better than 5%

  21. Conclusions • Safeguards approaches must continue to evolve to meet new challenges • Advanced safeguards techniques require early modeling and analysis of facility processes as well as integration of “state-of-the-art” measurement systems • Technology development needs include advanced instrumentation, portable NDA capability, unattended and remote monitoring, containment and surveillance, and data integration and analysis

More Related