Nuclear Security Applications of Antineutrino Detectors: Current Capabilities and Future Prospects

Abstract

Antineutrinos are electrically neutral, nearly massless fundamental particles produced in large numbers in the cores of nuclear reactors and in nuclear explosions. In the half century since their discovery, major advances in the understanding of their properties, and in detector technology, have opened the door to a new discipline: Applied Antineutrino Physics. Because antineutrinos are inextricably linked to the process of nuclear fission, many applications of interest are in nuclear nonproliferation. This white paper presents a comprehensive survey of applied antineutrino physics relevant for nonproliferation, summarizes recent advances in the field, describes the overlap of this nascent discipline with other ongoing fundamental and applied antineutrino research, and charts a course for research and development for future applications. It is intended as a resource for policymakers, researchers, and the wider nuclear nonproliferation community.

This is a white paper on nonproliferation applications of antineutrino detectors. It will be cross posted to Physics and Society under the Physics section

References in corpus (4)

• First Results from KamLAND: Evidence for Reactor Anti-Neutrino Disappearance
• Final results on the neutrino magnetic moment from the MUNU experiment
• Observation of Neutrons with a Gadolinium Doped Water Cerenkov Detector
• Multi-Megaton Water Cherenkov Detector for a Proton Decay Search -- TITAND

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Reactor Neutrino Spectra
• First search for short-baseline neutrino oscillations at HFIR with PROSPECT
• Improved Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Search and Energy Spectrum Measurement with the PROSPECT Experiment at HFIR
• The PROSPECT Physics Program
• Antineutrino monitoring of spent nuclear fuel
• SANDD: A directional antineutrino detector with segmented 6Li-doped pulse-shape-sensitive plastic scintillator
• Theoretical Antineutrino Detection, Direction and Ranging at Long Distances
• AGM2015: Antineutrino Global Map 2015
• Simulation and Efficiency Studies of Optical Photon Transportation and Detection with Plastic Antineutrino Detector Modules
• Directional Antineutrino Detection
• Reconstructing the direction of reactor antineutrinos via electron scattering in Gd-doped water Cherenkov detectors
• A reactor antineutrino detector based on hexagonal scintillator bars
• Measurement of Muon-induced High-energy Neutrons from Rock in an Underground Gd-doped Water Detector
• Antineutrino Detectors Remain Impractical for Nuclear Explosion Monitoring
• Comparison of Plastic Antineutrino Detector Designs in the Context of Near Field Reactor Monitoring