Nondestructive assay of plutonium and minor actinide in spent fuel using nuclear resonance fluorescence with laser Compton scattering -rays

Hayakawa, Takehito; Kikuzawa, Nobuhiro ; Hajima, Ryoichi; Shizuma, Toshiyuki; Nishimori, Nobuyuki; Fujiwara, Mamoru; Seya, Michio

We propose a new nondestructive assay method for U, Pu, and minor actinides in spent nuclear fuel assembly in a water pool. Nuclear fuel materials are detected using nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) with laser Compton scattering (LCS) -rays. The NRF assay can provide a finger print of each isotope since the NRF -ray energy is characteristic of a specific nuclide. We design a high-flux LCS -ray source, in which -rays are generated by collision of laser photons provided from Yb-doped fiber laser and electrons from energy recovery linac. A simulation calculation shows that we can detect 1% fraction Pu in all the fuel rods with statistical error lower than 2% using the high flux LCS -ray source and the measurement time of 4000 s.