Gamma-based Monitoring of Aqueous Reprocessing Facilities
Abstract: Reprocessing of used nuclear fuel (UNF) can address some concerns about long-term fuel storage; however, proliferation concerns currently limit the deployment and use of aqueous reprocessing in the US and abroad. Despite these concerns, aqueous approaches to separations and reprocessing (as opposed to electrochemical reprocessing) remain the most technically viable solution in the near-term. Traditional approaches to material control and accounting at reprocessing facilities rely in large part on laboratory-based destructive assay of samples; this analysis can be very accurate, but is costly and time-intensive. Online monitoring of operating facilities has been proposed as a complement to sampling-based accountancy to provide real-time indications of facility misuse. The Multi-Isotope Process (MIP) Monitor is one approach to online facility monitoring that combines in-line gamma spectroscopy and multivariate analysis to provide real-time, autonomous process monitoring and diversion detection during facility operation. The MIP Monitor measures the spectra from gamma-emitting isotopes across multiple stages of the reprocessing system. These spectra are measured and evaluated in effectively-real time through multivariate analysis to detect and identify process anomalies that could be due to normal process disturbances, anomalous process control changes, or maleficence. This presentation will describe the MIP Monitor approach and present results of this method for detecting a simulated diversion at the H-Canyon reprocessing facility at Savannah River Site.
Bio: Dr. Jamie Baalis Coble is an Associate Professor in the Nuclear Engineering department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she has been since 2013. Dr. Coble’s expertise is primarily in statistical data analysis, empirical modeling, and advanced pattern recognition for equipment condition assessment, process and system monitoring, anomaly detection and diagnosis, failure prognosis, and integrated decision making. Her research interests expand on past work in nuclear system monitoring and prognostics to incorporate system monitoring and remaining useful life estimates into risk assessment, operations and maintenance planning, and optimal control algorithms. Prior to joining the UT faculty, she worked in the Applied Physics group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr. Coble is currently pursuing research in prognostics and health management for active components and systems; cybersecurity and intrusion detection solutions for industrial control systems; advanced control strategies for integration of small modular reactors with deep renewable penetration; and process monitoring and accountancy for safeguards of nuclear fuel cycle facilities.
