-ray pipe monitoring for comprehensive safeguards process monitoring of reprocessing facilities

Rodriguez, D. ; Tanigawa, Masafumi ; Mukai, Yasunobu ; Isomae, Hidemi; Nakamura, Hironobu ; Rossi, F. ; Koizumi, Mitsuo ; Seya, Michio

Safegaurding nuclear material at reprocessing facilities utilizes sampling to verify the quantity and process monitoring to maintain continuity-of-knowledge to reduce re-verification. Solution Monitoring and Measurement Systems that determine the solution density and volume are installed at solution tanks, though this only provides indirect verification. To offset this safeguards limitation we propose measuring rays from solutions passing through the pipes and at the tanks to provide improved continuous monitoring and direct verification. This can provide both real-time flow measurements and Pu isotopic composition quantification through passive nondestructive assay. This concept was tested by recent experimental studies performed at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Plutonium Conversion Development Facility of flowing Pu-nitrate rays. This presentation will describe the concept details and analysis of using ray pipe monitoring as a capability for real-time safeguards verification.