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Nuclear Safeguards Education Portal

Advanced Safeguards Methods (Next Generation Safeguards Initiative)

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)