Preparations for the start-up of a research program in nuclear safeguards at Chalmers

The Department of Reactor Physics at Chalmers University of Technology plans to start-up a research program in nuclear safeguards and nuclear material management. The program is aimed at utilizing the experimental facilities as well as the experience in reactor physics, criticality safety, signal processing and unfolding, and experimental nuclear techniques, in tackling problems in non-destructive assay (NDA) of nuclear materials. For the introductory part of this program, support has been received from the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate to host Dr. Senada Avdic, University of Tuzla, Bosnia, as a post-doc for three months to participate in the preparatory program. The preparations were focussed on a survey of existing active non-destructive assay methods and preparations of their application in the experimental and theoretical/calculational research of our Department. The methods surveyed comprise - the use of a 252Cf source in active NDA measurements; - planning of an experiment with the existing equipments of the Department; - time correlation measurements with a 252Cf source and/or a 252Cf detector; - Monte Carlo simulations of the time correlations between gammas and neutrons from a measurement with a 252Cf detector: the MCNP-PoliMi code; - Identification of fissile material (enrichment/mass) with 252Cf measurements; the use of various unfolding techniques (artificial neural networks) for identifying nuclear parameters; use of neutron activation analysis with a neutron generator for determination of distribution of material in an unknown sample; - determination of fissile material content by measurements of delayed neutrons