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Antineutrino Device Tackles Nuclear Proliferation

Posted by kdawson on from the tamper-proof-it dept.

KentuckyFC writes "One of the biggest problems in nuclear proliferation is verifying that countries are not secretly transferring fissile material by taking it out of reactors and selling it. Now a group of US scientists say they've developed a machine that can remotely detect whether a reactor has been switched on and off by detecting the antineutrinos produced by nuclear reactions. The detector is about the size of a car engine and is designed to be left near a reactor to record data. The group has been testing a prototype at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in Southern California and says it works well (abstract). Now it's up to the International Atomic Energy Authority in Vienna to decide whether to deploy the new machine."

3 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. What's wrong with infrared? by Locklin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wouldn't the a simple heat-sensing camera on a satellite or other distant object be able to detect when a reactor is shut down? It's probably pretty difficult to fake all that heat output.

    --
    "Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
    1. Re:What's wrong with infrared? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I think the real key to this technology is, how far away can they measure? If the capacity can extend a few hundred miles in the future then it's possible to park this in a friendly country to monitor a hostile one.

      Japan has operated a 1000-ton detector at a mean average distance of 180km from their nuclear reactors nation-wide, and has been detecting events from them for years. In fact, they measured the difference between the expected number and actual number of detected events to a) prove that neutrinos oscillate to flavors that are undetectable by our detectors and b) compute the rate of said oscillation with an accuracy of 99.9998%

      That was with two runs - one ~250 days, the second ~500 days

      This device would not have the accuracy to monitor shutdowns over that distance (you need to detect a few antineutrinos a day from each reactor to do that) - but it also wasn't built with this team's apparently unique and novel methods of detection and filtering...

      BTW, the article states the exact opposite viewpoint - the inventor believes the key to this devices adoption is that it is simple and cheap to manufacture - but they're looking specifically for implementation by the signers of the nuclear anti-proliferation treaty; who have already agreed to international oversight of their reactors...

  2. It would be nice if nuclear powers let the IAEA in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    The policies of the present Israeli Government have obstructed the peace process in the Middle East and all initiatives to free the region of the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, and in particular of nuclear weapons, have failed.

    No less than 4 UN general resolutions and 5 IAEA resolutions. Is there a problem here?

    damn right i'm posting anonymously.