Simulation of differential die-away instrument’s response to asymmetrically burned spent nuclear fuel

Previous simulation studies of Differential Die‐Away (DDA) instrument’s response to active interrogation of spent nuclear fuel from a pressurized water reactor (PWR) yielded promising results in terms of its capability to accurately measure or estimate basic spent fuel assembly (SFA) characteristics, such as multiplication, initial enrichment (IE) and burn-up (BU) as well as the total plutonium content. These studies were however performed only for a subset of idealized SFAs with a symmetric BU with respect to its longitudinal axis. Therefore, to complement the previous results, additional simulations have been performed of the DDA instrument’s response to interrogation of asymmetrically burned spent nuclear fuel in order to determine whether detailed assay of SFAs from all 4 sides will be necessary in real life applications or whether a cost and time saving single sided assay could be used to achieve results of similar quality as previously reported in case of symmetrically burned SFAs. The results of this study suggest that DDA instrument response depends on the position of the individual neutron detectors and in fact can be split in two modes. The first mode, measured by the back detectors, is not significantly sensitive to the spatial distribution of fissile isotopes and neutron absorbers, but rather reflects the total amount of both contributors as in the cases of symmetrically burned SFAs. In contrary, the second mode, measured by the front detectors, yields certain sensitivity to the orientation of the asymmetrically burned SFA inside the assaying instrument. This study thus provides evidence that the DDA instrument can potentially be utilized as necessary in both ways, i.e. a quick determination of the average SFA characteristics in a single assay, as well as a more detailed characterization involving several DDA observables through assay of the SFA from all of its four sides that can possibly map the burn-up distribution and/or identify diversion or replacement of pins.