Brazilian Report on Safeguards Application of Reactor Neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper reports on the Angra experiment's progress in detecting reactor antineutrinos at Angra nuclear plant, demonstrating feasibility for nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation monitoring using a Cherenkov detector.

Contribution

It presents the detector design, electronics, and preliminary results, advancing the application of neutrino detection for nuclear safeguards in Latin America.

Findings

Successful detector commissioning and data acquisition

Preliminary physics results obtained from initial data

Demonstrated potential for reactor monitoring using antineutrinos

Abstract

The Neutrinos Angra Experiment is a water-based Cherenkov detector located in the Angra dos Reis nuclear power plant. The experiment has completed a major step by finishing the commissioning of the detector and the data acquisition system at the experimental site. The experiment was designed to detect the electron antineutrinos produced by the nuclear reactor with the main purpose to demonstrate the feasibility of monitoring the reactor activity using an antineutrino detector. This effort is within the context of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) program to identify potential and novel technologies that can be applied for non-proliferation safeguards. Challenges, such as operating at the surface, therefore with huge noise rates, and the need to build very sensitive but small-scale detectors, make the Angra experiment an excellent platform for developing the application itself, as well as acquiring expertise in new technologies and analysis methods. In this report, we describe the main detector features and the electronics chain (front-end and data acquisition). We also report preliminary physics results obtained from the commissioning phase data. Finally, we address conclusions regarding the future perspectives to keep this program active, due to its importance in the insertion of Latin-American scientists and engineers in a world-scale cutting edge scientific program.