[en] The PRIDE (PyRoprocessing Integrated inactive DEmonstration) is an engineering-scale pyroprocessing test-bed facility that utilizes depleted uranium (DU) instead of spent fuel as a process material. As part of the ongoing effort to enhance pyroprocessing safeguardability, UNDA (Unified Non-Destructive Assay), a system integrating three different non-destructive assay techniques, namely, neutron, gamma-ray, and mass measurement, for nuclear material accountancy (NMA) was developed. In the present study, UNDA's NMA capability was evaluated by measurement of the weight, "2"3"8U mass, and U enrichment of oxide-reduction-process feed material (i.e., porous pellets). In the "2"3"8U mass determination, the total neutron counts for porous pellets of six different weights were measured. The U enrichment of the porous pellets, meanwhile, was determined according to the gamma spectrums acquired using UNDA's NaI-based enrichment measurement system. The results demonstrated that the UNDA system, after appropriate corrections, could be used in PRIDE NMA applications with reasonable uncertainty. It is expected that in the near future, the UNDA system will be tested with next-step materials such as the products of the oxide-reduction and electro-refining processes. - Highlights: • PRIDE UNDA has been developed and characterized for nuclear material accountancy. • The performance was evaluated with pyroprocessing feed material: UO_2 porous pellets made of depleted uranium. • Total neutron counting, U enrichment, and mass measurements were performed for porous pellet samples of various weights. • "2"3"8U mass determination by neutron measurement showed the relative difference of 0.79–13.28% compared with actual mass. • The enrichment measured by gamma-ray spectroscopy was significantly underestimated by 42.07%.

[en] it can provide effective information on the presence of high-Z materials, has a high enough energy to deeply penetrate large amounts of shielding, and does not lead to any health risks and danger above background. We developed a 2-D muon detector and designed a muon tomography system employing four detector modules. Two top and two bottom detectors are, respectively, employed to record the incident and the scattered muon trajectories. The detector module for the muon tomography system consists of a plastic scintillator, wavelength-shifting (WLS) fiber arrays placed orthogonally on the top and the bottom of the scintillator, and a position-sensitive photomultiplier (PSPMT). The WLS fiber arrays absorb light photons emitted by the plastic scintillator and re-emit green lights guided to the PSPMT. The light distribution among the WLS fiber arrays determines the position of the muon interaction; consequently, 3-D tomographic images can be obtained by extracting the crossing points of the individual muon trajectories by using a point-of-closest-approach algorithm. The goal of this study is to optimize the design parameters of a muon tomography system by using the Geant4 code and to experimentally evaluate the performance of the prototype detector. Images obtained by the prototype detector with a 420-nm laser light source showed good agreement with the simulation results. This indicates that the proposed detector is feasible for use in a muon tomography system and can be used to verify the Z-discrimination capability of the muon tomography system.

[en] The PRIDE (PyRoprocessing Integrated inactive DEmonstration facility) provides unique opportunities not only to develop process technologies but also to test various types of safeguards equipment for nuclear material accountancy (NMA), containment and surveillance (C/S), as well as process monitoring. In this regard, we developed a UNDA (Unified Non-Destructive Assay) system by incorporating three different non-destructive assay (NDA) techniques, i.e., neutron, gamma-ray, and mass measurements, for the testing of NMA of PRIDE. One of the main advantages of the UNDA is reducing measurement time and systematic error related to sample handling and placement by integrating the NDA techniques. The "2"3"5U mass can be determined from the "2"3"8U mass and uranium enrichment ("2"3"5U/"2"3"8U). The "2"3"8U mass is acquired from total neutron counting using neutron detection module of UNDA, with the information on the spontaneous fission neutron yield of "2"3"8U and neutron detection efficiency of the system. Total sample mass is measured by using the mass balance. In our previous studies, the UNDA was developed and characterized for a calibration source. In this study, the UNDA was installed in PRIDE facility, and the performance of the UNDA was evaluated with feed material of oxide reduction process. In this study, the performance of the UNDA was evaluated with feed material of oxide reduction process: UO2 porous pellets made of DU. The neutron net count rate was obtained as functions of 238U mass. The measured net count rate fitted by linear regression showed good linearity. In addition, the 238U mass of unknown source was determined using the information of the detection efficiency and count rate obtained from the UNDA.

[en] One of the options for spent-fuel management in Korea is pyroprocessing whose main process flow is the head-end process followed by oxide reduction, electrorefining, and electrowining. In the present study, a well-type passive neutron coincidence counter, namely, the ACP (Advanced spent fuel Conditioning Process) safeguards neutron counter (ASNC), was redesigned for safeguards of a hot-cell facility related to the oxide reduction process. To this end, first, the isotopic composition, gamma/neutron emission yield and energy spectrum of the feed material (i.e., the UO2 porous pellet) were calculated using the OrigenARP code. Then, the proper thickness of the gammaray shield was determined, both by irradiation testing at a standard dosimetry laboratory and by MCNP6 simulations using the parameters obtained from the OrigenARP calculation. Finally, the neutron coincidence counter’s calibration curve for 100- to 1000-g porous pellets, in consideration of the process batch size, was determined through simulations. Based on these simulation results, the neutron counter currently is under construction. In the near future, it will be installed in a hot cell and tested with spent fuel materials.

[en] For the purpose of monitoring and verifying efforts at safeguarding radioactive materials in various fields, a new all-in-one gamma camera/charged coupled device (CCD) system was developed. This combined system consists of a gamma camera, which gathers energy and position information on gamma-ray sources, and a CCD camera, which identifies the specific location in a monitored area. Therefore, 2-D image information and quantitative information regarding gamma-ray sources can be obtained using fused images. A gamma camera consists of a diverging collimator, a 22 x 22 array CsI(Na) pixelated scintillation crystal with a pixel size of 2 x 2 x 6 mm"3 and Hamamatsu H8500 position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT). The Basler scA640-70gc CCD camera, which delivers 70 frames per second at video graphics array (VGA) resolution, was employed. Performance testing was performed using a Co-57 point source 30 cm from the detector. The measured spatial resolution and sensitivity were 4.77 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM) and 7.78 cps/MBq, respectively. The energy resolution was 18% at 122 keV. These results demonstrate that the combined system has considerable potential for radiation monitoring.

[en] Prototype safeguards instrument for nuclear material accountancy (NMA) of uranium/transuranic (U/TRU) products that could be produced in a future advanced PWR fuel processing facility has been developed and characterized. This is a new, hybrid neutron measurement system based on fast neutron energy multiplication (FNEM) and passive neutron albedo reactivity (PNAR) methods. The FNEM method is sensitive to the induced fission rate by fast neutrons, while the PNAR method is sensitive to the induced fission rate by thermal neutrons in the sample to be measured. The induced fission rate is proportional to the total amount of fissile material, especially plutonium (Pu), in the U/TRU product; hence, the Pu amount can be calibrated as a function of the induced fission rate, which can be measured using either the FNEM or PNAR method. In the present study, the prototype system was built using six "3He tubes, and its performance was evaluated for various detector parameters including high-voltage (HV) plateau, efficiency profiles, dead time, and stability. The system's capability to measure the difference in the average neutron energy for the FNEM signature also was evaluated, using AmLi, PuBe, "2"5"2Cf, as well as four Pu-oxide sources each with a different impurity (Al, F, Mg, and B) and producing (α,n) neutrons with different average energies. Future work will measure the hybrid signature (i.e., FNEM×PNAR) for a Pu source with an external interrogating neutron source after enlarging the cavity size of the prototype system to accommodate a large-size Pu source (~600 g Pu). - Highlights: • Prototype safeguards instrument for nuclear material accountancy has been developed and characterized. • The prototype system is based on a hybrid measurement technique (FNEM and PNAR). • Various detector parameters (i.e., efficiency profile, dead time, and stability) were evaluated. • The system's capability to measure the difference in the average neutron energy for the FNEM signature was evaluated.

[en] Recently, monitoring nuclear materials to avoid nuclear terrorism has become an important area of national security. It can be difficult to detect gamma rays from nuclear material because they are easily shielded by shielding material. Muon tomography using multiple -Coulomb scattering derived from muons can be utilized to detect special nuclear materials (SNMs) such as uranium-235 and plutonium-239. We designed a muon tomography system composed of four detector modules. The incident and scattered muon tracks can be calculated by two top and two bottom detectors, respectively. 3D tomographic images are obtained by extracting the crossing points of muon tracks with a point-of-closest-approach algorithm. The purpose of this study was to optimize the muon tomography system using Monte Carlo simulation code. The effects of the geometric parameters of the muon tomography system on material Z-discrimination capability were simulated and evaluated

[en] A range verification method plays an important role in the quality assurance of the proton therapy offering the high conformity and reduction in radiation dose. To localize the distal falloff of the dose distribution, secondary particles (C-11, O-15, and N-13) produced by the proton interaction within the patient body can be used as a measure of the beam range. We proposed a multi-modality imaging system for X-ray and gamma-ray coincidence imaging using CdZnTe detectors to measure proton range verification. The detector system consists of two parallel planes of detectors and an X-ray generator. An X-ray image is acquired using one detector for the verification of 2-dimensional anatomical structure of the patient, and the paired gamma rays from the annihilation are imaged with two modules to determine the maximum range of proton penetration. Image registration is intrinsic because the X-ray and gamma ray images are acquired in the same geometry. 110 and 140 MeV proton beam, a cylindrical tissue phantom, and two rectangular CdZnTe detectors were modeled, and the imaging performance of this system was evaluated using GATE simulation. The results showed the potential benefits of an X-ray/gamma-ray imaging with photon counting detectors for range verification in proton therapy.

[en] In recent years, there has been a growing interest in compact and high resolution small gamma cameras for the early detection of breast cancer and thyroid diseases. We proposed a new detector consisting of a trapezoidal-shaped crystal and a position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT) to reduce the edge effect. In this study, the imaging performance of the proposed detector was evaluated by DETECT2000 simulation. Trapezoidal-shaped NaI(Tl) and CsI(Tl) crystals were modeled and the 2-dimensional event positions were calculated using Anger-logic. ^99mTc (140 keV) and ¹³¹I (364 keV) gamma rays were generated on evenly spaced points with 3.0 mm spacing in the X-Y plane starting 1.0 mm away from the corner surface and 10,000 gamma events were simulated at each location. The simulated results demonstrated that all the ^99mTc and ¹³¹I point sources were clearly identified in the NaI(Tl) crystal. CsI(Tl) crystal could image ¹³¹I sources without edge effect but did not distinguish ^99mTc points at the periphery region due to low light yield. In conclusion, our new detector with an enlarged FOV without increasing crystal size could be a useful tool in breast as well as thyroid imaging.

[en] The collimator design for a nuclear monitoring system should be considered differently from the collimator design for medical environments because it has to be used in high-energy radiation environments. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimum pinhole design and to evaluate its performance for acquiring good-quality image in a high-energy radiation field. Simulations using the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) were performed to model the pinhole gamma camera system. The gamma camera consists of a pyramid-shaped lead collimator with a tungsten pinhole insert, and a CsI(Tl) scintillation crystal with thickness of 6.0 mm and area of 50.0 mm × 50.0 mm. The acceptance angle of the pinhole collimator and the distance from pinhole to scintillator crystal were set to 45° and 60 mm, respectively. The intrinsic spatial resolution and sensitivity were simulated by changing the pinhole diameter and channel height. The point source was located 60 mm above the center of the pinhole, and the transmitted image was estimated for pinhole diameter values from 2.0 mm to 4.0 mm, while the channel heights were fixed between 2.0 mm and 6.0 mm. The optimal ranges of channel height and pinhole diameter were determined by evaluating the intrinsic resolution and sensitivity tradeoff curves. The pinhole parameters were selected based on these analyses, and we verified the simulation results through experimental tests of three types of collimators (general purpose, high sensitivity, and high resolution). The simulated and experimental results agreed, with discrepancies of 4.5% and 6.4% in the sensitivity and spatial resolution, respectively. The results demonstrate that the pinhole collimator designed in this study could be utilized to perform radiation monitoring. -- Highlights: • Optimization of pinhole collimator. • GATE simulation of pinhole gamma camera. • Development of pinhole gamma camera. • Experimental validation