Reactor antineutrino monitoring with a plastic scintillator array as a new safeguards method

TL;DR

This paper presents a new plastic scintillator array detector for reactor antineutrino monitoring, demonstrating its potential as a non-intrusive safeguards tool through field tests at a commercial reactor.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel segmented plastic scintillator detector for antineutrino monitoring and validates its effectiveness in real-world nuclear safeguards applications.

Findings

Successful detection of antineutrino flux difference during reactor on/off states

Operated the detector remotely in a commercial power plant setting

Demonstrated feasibility of non-intrusive nuclear safeguards monitoring

Abstract

We developed a segmented reactor-antineutrino detector made of plastic scintillators for application as a tool in nuclear safeguards inspection and performed mostly unmanned field operations at a commercial power plant reactor. At a position outside the reactor building, we measured the difference in reactor antineutrino flux above the ground when the reactor was active and inactive.