Active Techniques for the Real-Time Detection, Identification and
Quantification of Fissionable Materials
Dr. Alan W. Hunt
Idaho Accelerator Center
Idaho
State University
Recently there has
been increased interest in detecting, identifying and quantifying fissionable
materials nondestructively for security and nonproliferation applications. In this presentation, I discuss the
motivation for this research and accelerator based techniques for fissionable
material detection. All the techniques
use a high-energy bremsstrahlung beam to probe the material of interest. The irradiation of fissionable material by
high-energy bremsstrahlung induces photofission reactions. Almost immediately after a fission reaction,
prompt neutrons and g-rays are emitted. At much longer times delayed neutrons and g-rays are also emitted from the
highly-excited fission fragments. The
detection of any of these emissions can provide a signature of fissionable
materials.