Development of active neutron NDA system for radioactive nuclear materials

Toh, Yosuke   ; Ozu, Akira  ; Tsuchiya, Harufumi ; Furutaka, Kazuyoshi  ; Kitatani, Fumito  ; Komeda, Masao   ; Maeda, Makoto  ; Koizumi, Mitsuo 

Nuclear material accountancy plays a key role in nuclear safeguards and security. The collaboration between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission aims to develop an active neutron NDA system for Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) and Minor Actinides (MA) in highly radioactive nuclear materials. Several active neutron NDA techniques, namely Differential Die-Away Analysis (DDA), Prompt Gamma-ray Analysis (PGA), Neutron Resonance Capture Analysis (NRCA), Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis (NRTA) and Delayed Gamma-ray Analysis (DGA) have been developed. The different methods can provide complementary information. In the first phase of the project, we developed a combined NDA system, which enables the simultaneous measurements of DDA and PGA. The DDA technique can determine very small amounts of the fissile mass. PGA is valuable for the measurement of light elements. In the second phase, we will continue to conduct additional research to improve the methodology and develop a new integrated NDA system which can use for NRTA as well as DDA and PGA. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the project and report the recent results, especially the design of new integrated NDA system. This research was implemented under the subsidiary for nuclear security promotion of MEXT.