Haruo Miyadera

Imaging Fukushima Daiichi reactors with muons

A study of imaging the Fukushima Daiichi reactors with cosmic-ray muons to assess the damage to the reactors is presented. Muon scattering imaging has high sensitivity for detecting uranium fuel and debris even through thick concrete walls and a reactor pressure vessel. Technical demonstrations using a reactor mockup, detector radiation test at Fukushima Daiichi, and simulation studies have been carried out. These studies establish feasibility for the reactor imaging. A few months of measurement will reveal the spatial distribution of the reactor fuel. The muon scattering technique would be the best and probably the only way for Fukushima Daiichi to make this determination in the near future.

Obtaining material identification with cosmic ray radiography

The passage of muons through matter is dominated by the Coulomb interaction with electrons and nuclei in the matter. The muon interaction with the electrons leads to continuous energy loss and stopping of the muons. The muon interaction with nuclei leads to angular diffusion. Using both stopped muons and angle diffusion interactions allows us to determine density and identify materials. Here we demonstrate material identification using data taken at Los Alamos with a particle tracker built from a set of sealed drift tubes with commercial electronics and software, the Mini Muon Tracker (MMT).

Imaging a nuclear reactor using cosmic ray muons

The passage of muons through matter is dominated by the Coulomb interaction with electrons and nuclei. The muon interaction with electrons leads to continuous energy loss and stopping of the muons. The muon interaction with nuclei leads to angular diffusion. We present experimental images of a nuclear reactor, the AGN-201M reactor at the University of New Mexico, using data measured with a particle tracker built from a set of sealed drift tubes. The data are compared with a geant4 model. In both the data and simulation, we identify specific regions corresponding to elements of the reactor structure, including its core, moderator, and shield.

Cosmic-ray muon radiography of UO2 fuel assembly

A technical demonstration of cosmic-ray muon radiography of a UO2 fuel assembly was performed at Toshiba Nuclear Critical Assembly (NCA). The fuel assembly in the NCA was imaged through obstacles such as steel and concrete. The result suggested that the method can be applicable to assess the damage to the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Here, both scattering and displacement methods are presented, and the results are shown to agree with Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the Fukushima Daiichi reactor were performed, which showed capability of muon radiography to locate the fuel in the damaged reactors.

Analysis of muon radiography of the Toshiba nuclear critical assembly reactor

A 1.2 × 1.2 m2 muon tracker was moved from Los Alamos to the Toshiba facility at Kawasaki, Japan, where it was used to take ∼4 weeks of data radiographing the Toshiba Critical Assembly Reactor with cosmic ray muons. In this paper, we describe the analysis procedure, show results of this experiment, and compare the results to Monte Carlo predictions. The results validate the concept of using cosmic rays to image the damaged cores of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

Detecting special nuclear material using muon-induced neutron emission

Abstract The penetrating ability of cosmic ray muons makes them an attractive probe for imaging dense materials. Here, we describe experimental results from a new technique that uses neutrons generated by cosmic-ray muons to identify the presence of special nuclear material (SNM). Neutrons emitted from SNM are used to tag muon-induced fission events in actinides and laminography is used to form images of the stopping material. This technique allows the imaging of SNM-bearing objects tagged using muon tracking detectors located above or to the side of the objects, and may have potential applications in warhead verification scenarios. During the experiment described here we did not attempt to distinguish the type or grade of the SNM.

A new method for imaging nuclear threats using cosmic ray muons

Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate three dimensional images of volumes using information contained in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Advantages of this technique are the ability of cosmic rays to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose delivered to subjects under study above the natural cosmic ray flux. Disadvantages include the relatively long exposure times and poor position resolution and complex algorithms needed for reconstruction. Here we demonstrate a new method for obtaining improved position resolution and statistical precision for objects with spherical symmetry.

Muon trackers for imaging a nuclear reactor

A detector system for assessing damage to the cores of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors by using cosmic-ray muon tomography was developed. The system consists of a pair of drift-tube tracking detectors of 7.2× 7.2-m2 area. Each muon tracker consists of 6 x-layer and 6 y-layer drift-tube detectors. Each tracker is capable of measuring muon tracks with 12 mrad angular resolutions, and is capable of operating under 50-μ Sv/h radiation environment by removing gamma induced background with a novel time-coincidence logic. An estimated resolution to observe nuclear fuel debris at Fukushima Daiichi is 0.3 m when the core is imaged from outside the reactor building.

Cosmic-Ray Muon Imaging of Fukushima Daiichi

Reactor imaging using scattering of cosmic-ray muon is proposed to assess the damages to the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi. Simulation studies showed feasibility of the reactor imaging with muons, and the technique has been demonstrated at a research reactor, Toshiba Nuclear Critical Assembly, where the reactor core was imaged with spatial resolution of 3 cm after 1 month of exposure time.Copyright

Imaging of a reactor with muons

A technical demonstration to image a research reactor, Toshiba Nuclear Critical Assembly, with cosmic-ray muons is presented. The demonstration was performed as a precursor to Fukushima Daiichi muon imaging. We have obtained resolution of 3 cm during 1 month of exposure time. This result is in agreement with previous simulation results conducted on Fukushima Daiichi reactors 1 and 2.