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AGA: Arbeitsgruppe Physik und Abrüstung

AGA 2: Fissile Material Production and Nuclear Reactors

AGA 2.3: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 1. April 2020, 15:10–15:35, H-HS XVII

Reconstructing past reactor operation from isotopic ratios in shut-down facilities — •Lukas Rademacher, Benjamin Jung, Jakob Brochhaus, and Malte Göttsche — RWTH Aachen

Current stocks of fissile materials are sufficient to increase ten-fold the number of existing nuclear warheads. A comprehensive verification regime monitoring irreversible disarmament requires scientific methods to verify the completeness of fissile material baseline declarations.

We study an approach based on measurements taken in structural materials after reactor shut-down to verify fissile material production histories. Focusing on trace isotopes created by irradiation of structural elements during the active period, the neutron fluence is reconstructed by analyzing isotopic ratios. The plutonium production can then be inferred from the neutron fluence in conjunction with additional operational reactor parameters.

Sensitivity analysis tools allow us to investigate the impact of different operational parameters on the expected isotope quantities. The goal is to quantify uncertainties of plutonium production estimates stemming from incomplete information of such parameters and to - where possible - develop new methods of gaining additional information about past reactor operations.