Characterising Encapsulated Nuclear Waste Using Cosmic-ray Muon Tomography (MT)

Clarkson, A., Ireland, D. G. , Al Jebali, R., Kaiser, R. , Lumsden, S., Mahon, D. , Mountford, D., Ryan, M., Shearer, C. and Yang, G. (2015) Characterising Encapsulated Nuclear Waste Using Cosmic-ray Muon Tomography (MT). In: 2015 4th International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications (ANIMMA), Lisbon, Portugal, 20-24 Apr 2015, ISBN 9781479999187 (doi: 10.1109/ANIMMA.2015.7465529)

Abstract

A prototype scintillating-fibre detector system has been developed at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) for the non-destructive assay of UK legacy nuclear waste containers. This system consists of four tracking modules, two above and two below the container under interrogation. Each module consists of two orthogonal planes of 2 mm-pitch fibres yielding one space point. Per plane, 128 fibres are read out by a single Hamamatsu H8500 64-channel MAPMT with two fibres multiplexed onto each pixel. The configuration allows the reconstruction of the incoming and scattered muon trajectories, thus enabling the container content, with respect to atomic number Z, to be determined. Results are shown from experimental data collected for high-Z objects within an air matrix and within a shielded, concrete-filled container. These reconstructed images show clear discrimination between the low, medium and high-Z materials present, with dimensions and positions determined with sub-centimetre precision.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Al Jebali, Dr Ramsey and Clarkson, Mr Anthony and Mahon, Dr David and Kaiser, Professor Ralf and Yang, Dr Guangliang and Shearer, Dr Craig and Ireland, Professor David and Ryan, Mr Matthew
• Authors: Clarkson, A., Ireland, D. G., Al Jebali, R., Kaiser, R., Lumsden, S., Mahon, D., Mountford, D., Ryan, M., Shearer, C., and Yang, G.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• ISBN: 9781479999187