James Banfield

Bio: James Banfield is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Spent nuclear fuel. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 4 citations.

Experimental and Analytical Plans for the Non-Destructive Assay System of the Swedish Encapsulation and Repository Facilities

Abstract: The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), two universities and several U.S. Department of Energy Laboratories have joined in a collaborative research effort to determine the capability of non-destructive assay (NDA) techniques to meet the combined needs of the safeguards community and the Swedish encapsulation and repository facilities operator SKB. These needs include partial defect detection, heat quantification, assembly identification (initial enrichment, burnup and cooling time), and Pu mass and reactivity determination. The experimental component of this research effort involves the measurement of 50 assemblies at the Central Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel (Clab) facility in Sweden, 25 of which were irradiated in Pressurized Water Reactors and 25 in Boiling Water Reactors. The experimental signatures being measured for all assemblies include spectral resolved gammas (HPGe and LaBr3), time correlated neutrons (Differential Die-away Self Interrogation), time-varying and continuous active neutron interrogation (Differential Die-away and an approximation of Californium Interrogation Prompt Neutron), total neutron and total gamma fluxes (Fork Detector), total heat (assembly length calorimeter) and possibly the Cerenkov light emission (Digital Cerenkov Viewing Device). This paper fits into the IAEA’s Department of Safeguards Long-Term R&D Plan in the context of developing “more sensitive and less intrusive alternatives to existing NDA instruments to perform partial defect test on spent fuel assembly prior to transfer to difficult to access storage,” as well as potentially supporting pyrochemical processing. The work describes the specific measured signatures, the uniqueness of the information contained in these signatures and why a data mining approach is being used to combine the various signatures to optimally satisfy the various needs of the collaboration. This paper will address efficient and effective verification strategies particularly in the context of encapsulation and repository facilities.

Measuring spent fuel assembly multiplication in borated water with a passive neutron albedo reactivity instrument

Abstract: The performance of a passive neutron albedo reactivity (PNAR) instrument to measure neutron multiplication of spent nuclear fuel in borated water is investigated as part of an integrated non-destructive assay safeguards system. To measure the PNAR Ratio, which is proportional to the neutron multiplication, the total neutron count rate is measured in high- and low-multiplying environments by the PNAR instrument. The integrated system also contains a load cell and a passive gamma emission tomograph, and as such meets all the recommendations of the IAEA’s recent ASTOR Experts Group report. A virtual spent fuel library for VVER-440 fuel was used in conjunction with MCNP simulations of the PNAR instrument to estimate the measurement uncertainties from (1) variation in the water boron content, (2) assembly positioning in the detector and (3) counting statistics. The estimated aggregate measurement uncertainty on the PNAR Ratio measurement is 0.008, to put this uncertainty in context, the difference in the PNAR Ratio between a fully irradiated assembly and this same assembly when fissile isotopes only absorb neutrons, but do not emit neutrons, is 0.106, a 13-sigma effect. The 1-sigma variation of 0.008 in the PNAR Ratio is estimated to correspond to a 3.2 GWd/tU change in assembly burnup.