Expected total counts for the self-interrogation neutron resonance densitometry measurements of spent nuclear fuel

Abstract

The Self-Interrogation Neutron Resonance Densitometry (SINRD) is a passive neutron technique that aims at a direct quantification of 239Pu in spent fuel assemblies by measuring the attenuation of the neutron flux in the energy region close to the 0.3 eV resonance of 239Pu. The 239Pu mass is estimated by calculating the SINRD signature, that is the ratio between the neutron counts in the fast energy region and around the 0.3 eV resonance region. The SINRD measurement approach in this study consisted in introducing a small neutron detector in the central guide tube of a PWR 17×17 fuel assembly. In order to measure the neutron flux in the energy regions defined in the SINRD signature, different detector types were used. The response of a bare 238U fission chamber is considered for the determination of the fast neutron flux, while other thermal-epithermal detectors wrapped in neutron absorbers are envisaged to measure the neutron flux around the resonance region. This paper provides an estimation of the total neutron counts that can be achieved with the detector types proposed for the SINRD measurement. In the first section a set of detectors are evaluated in terms of total neutron counts and sensitivity to the 239Pu content, in order to identify the optimal measurement configuration for each detector type. Then a study is performed to increase the total neutron counts by increasing the detector size. The study shows that the highest total neutron counts are achieved by using either 3He or 10B proportional counters because of the high neutron efficiency of these detectors. However, the calculations indicate that the biggest contribution to the measurement uncertainty is due to the measurement of the fast neutron flux. Finally, similar sensitivity to the 239Pu content is obtained by using the different detector types for the measurement of the neutron flux close to the resonance region. Therefore, the total neutron counts associated to each detector type will play a major role in the selection of the detector types used for the SINRD measurement.