In 2009, the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI)*
commenced a 5 year project to develop better instrumentation for
nondestructive assay of spent nuclear fuel. The primary goals
of the spent fuel NDA program was to improve the ability to
determine plutonium quantity and to detect partial defects (missing
fuel rods) in spent fuel assemblies. Fourteen NDA methods
were evaluated and in 2012, eight methods were selected for further
study as part of 4 integrated technique instruments. This
section reviews the 8 methods selected for further study and
presents the combinations for the integrated NDA instruments.
The eight independent NDA methods are
- Passive Neutron Albedo Reactivity (PNAR)
- Passive Gamma (PG)
- Differential Die-Away (DDA)
- Differential Die-Away Self-Interrogation (DDSI)
- Delayed Neutrons (DN)
- Delayed Gamma (DG)
- Cf-252 Interrogation with Prompt Neutrons (CIPN)
- Self-Interrogation Neutron Resonance Densitometry (SINRD)
- Total Neutron (TN)
*The NGSI is a program of the U.S. Department of Energy's
National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA)
