Assessing the feasibility of interrogating nuclear waste storage silos using cosmic-ray muons
Assessing the feasibility of interrogating nuclear waste storage silos using cosmic-ray muons
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DOI：
10.1088/1748-0221/10/06/t06005
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发表时间：
2015-06-01
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Yang, G.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ambrosino, F.;Bonechi, L.;Yang, G.
介子放射学是应用科学研究中一个快速发展的领域。近年来，利用宇宙射线μ介子的库仑散射和吸收特性的许多探测器技术和成像技术已被开发出来，用于各种结构的无损检测，应用范围广泛。这项工作提出了第一个结果，评估可行性使用介子射线摄影询问废料筒仓在英国核工业。之前已经发表了两种方法，使用不同的技术来利用这些特性，并从模拟和实验数据中显示出有希望的结果，用于检测火山分析中屏蔽的高z材料和密度变化。所使用的两种探测系统都是基于闪烁体和光电倍增管技术。本文介绍了利用这些成熟技术和图像重建技术进行的专门模拟研究的结果，这些研究是针对一个中型的传统核废料储存设施进行的，该设施填充了混凝土和一系列铀样品。这两个结果都强调了在几周的实时持续时间内识别大于5厘米的不同厚度的铀物体的潜力。在结构的混凝土矩阵中，库仑散射的增加影响了这两种方法分辨2厘米尺寸的类似物体的能力，即使统计量增加了。这些结果都取决于设施内物体的位置和探测器的位置。不同混凝土厚度的结果，反映了这些复杂的、遗留结构的非标准组成，同时也展示了一系列数据收集持续时间的研究。预计随着探测器技术和几何形状的进一步研究和优化，其中一种或两种形式的μ子射线照相将在英国核工业未来的工业应用中发挥关键作用。
Muon radiography is a fast growing field in applied scientific research. In recent years, many detector technologies and imaging techniques using the Coulomb scattering and absorption properties of cosmic-ray muons have been developed for the non-destructive assay of various structures across a wide range of applications. This work presents the first results that assess the feasibility of using muon radiography to interrogate waste silos within the U.K. Nuclear Industry. Two such approaches, using different techniques that exploit each of these properties, have previously been published, and show promising results from both simulation and experimental data for the detection of shielded high-Z materials and density variations from volcanic assay. Both detection systems used are based on scintillator and photomultiplier technologies.Results from dedicated simulation studies using both these proven technologies and image reconstruction techniques are presented for an intermediate-sized legacy nuclear waste storage facility filled with concrete and an array of uranium samples. Both results highlight the potential to identify uranium objects of varying thicknesses greater than 5 cm within real-time durations of several weeks. Increased contributions from Coulomb scattering within the concrete matrix of the structure hinder the ability of both approaches to resolve similar objects of 2 cm dimensions even with increased statistics. These results are all dependent on both the position of the objects within the facility and the locations of the detectors. Results for differing thicknesses of concrete, which reflect the non-standard composition of these complex, legacy structures under interrogation, are also presented alongside studies performed for a series of data collection durations. It is anticipated that with further research and optimisation of detector technologies and geometries, muon radiography in one, or both of these forms, will play a key role in future industrial applications within the U.K. Nuclear Industry.