Monitoring the Thermal Power of Nuclear Reactors with a Prototype Cubic Meter Antineutrino Detector

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that a cubic meter antineutrino detector can effectively monitor a nuclear reactor's operational status and thermal power with high precision over various time scales, aiding safeguards and monitoring efforts.

Contribution

The paper presents a practical deployment of a cubic meter antineutrino detector capable of real-time reactor monitoring and rapid shutdown detection, advancing nuclear safeguard technologies.

Findings

Detects reactor shutdown within five hours

Monitors relative thermal power to 3% within seven days

Operates effectively at 25 meters from reactor core

Abstract

In this paper, we estimate how quickly and how precisely a reactor's operational status and thermal power can be monitored over hour to month time scales, using the antineutrino rate as measured by a cubic meter scale detector. Our results are obtained from a detector we have deployed and operated at 25 meter standoff from a reactor core. This prototype can detect a prompt reactor shutdown within five hours, and monitor relative thermal power to three percent within seven days. Monitoring of short-term power changes in this way may be useful in the context of International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Reactor Safeguards Regime, or other cooperative monitoring regimes.