Muon scattering tomography of spent fuel dry storage casks

Abstract

In recent years, the cosmic-ray muon imaging technique has been widely used in industrial practical applications, such as the nuclear reactor monitoring and the internal container scanning. However, it is restricted by the lagging imaging algorithm technology, resulting in poor image quality and time-consuming. In this study, a cosmic-ray imaging system of Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) has been constructed with the help of the Filter Back Projection (FBP) algorithm. Aiming at the dry spent fuel storage casks of Westinghouse MC-10, two different imaging algorithms are carried out. Two reasons are proposed by comparing their effects on the constructed image quality. The results demonstrate that the scattered reconstructed image is more sharply resolved than the transmitted one, and the sharpness of the edge is increased by 20%. The outline and missing part of the fuel assembly in the cask can be displayed clearly by using this method, even if the position resolution of the gas detector is only 300 μm.