Development of a Dual-Particle Imaging System for Nonproliferation Applications
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Development of a Dual-Particle Imaging System for Nonproliferation Applications By Alexis Pierre Valère Poitrasson-Rivière A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillement of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences) in the University of Michigan 2016 Doctoral Committee: Professor Sara A. Pozzi, Chair Assistant Professor Marek Flaska, Penn State University Professor Zhong He Associate Professor David D. Wentzloff © Alexis Pierre Valère Poitrasson-Rivière 2016 Dedication This work is dedicated to my rock and my wind. ii Acknowledgements I would first of all like to thank my family and friends for supporting me throughout my doctoral studies. I would also like to thank my advisor, my committee members, the faculty and staff at the Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences department, as well as all the students I had the chance to interact with, for making this experience fulfilling and enjoyable from start to finish. I would finally like to thank the different sponsors that have helped make this work possible. This work is supported, in part, by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency under Grant No. HDTRA1-09-C-0012, by the National Nuclear Security Administration through NA-22 funding opportunity DE-FOA-0000568, and by the National Science Foundation and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office of the Department of Homeland Security through the Academic Research Initiative Award #CMMI 0938909. The prototype systems described in this work are funded by the Department of Energy, Nuclear Energy University Program, Award #DE- NE0000324. iii Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. x List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1. From Nuclear Physics to Nuclear Nonproliferation ............................................................. 1 1.2. Nuclear Nonproliferation ..................................................................................................... 2 1.3. Radiation Imaging ................................................................................................................ 4 1.4. Radiation Imaging in Nuclear Nonproliferation .................................................................. 5 Chapter 2. Compton Imaging – The iFind Project .................................................................... 8 2.1. Premise ................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2. Two-Plane Compton Camera Concept ................................................................................. 9 2.3. Tools and Methodology ..................................................................................................... 11 2.3.1. MCNPX-PoliMi and MPPost ...................................................................................... 11 2.3.2. Terrestrial Background Model .................................................................................... 15 2.3.3. Lanthanum Intrinsic Background Model ..................................................................... 16 2.3.4. Detection of Imageable Events .................................................................................... 17 2.3.5. Backprojection Imaging ............................................................................................... 18 2.4. Results ................................................................................................................................ 20 2.4.1. Scatter-Plane Optimization ......................................................................................... 20 2.4.2. Absorption-Plane Optimization ................................................................................... 23 2.4.3. Minimum Detectable Activity Study ............................................................................. 26 2.4.4. MLEM – Backprojection Comparison ......................................................................... 30 2.4.5. Validation Measurements ............................................................................................ 32 2.5. Advantages and Limitations of Compton Imaging ............................................................ 34 Chapter 3. Neutron Imaging ...................................................................................................... 36 3.1. Premise ............................................................................................................................... 36 3.2. Neutron-Scatter Camera Concept ....................................................................................... 37 3.3. Tools and Methodology ..................................................................................................... 38 3.4. Simulation validation ......................................................................................................... 42 3.4.1. Measurement Setup ...................................................................................................... 43 3.4.2. Results Comparison ..................................................................................................... 44 3.5. Advantages and Limitations of a Neutron-Scatter Camera ................................................ 46 iv Chapter 4. Dual Particle Imaging System ................................................................................ 48 4.1. Premise ............................................................................................................................... 48 4.2. Three-Plane Dual-Particle Imaging Concept ..................................................................... 49 4.3. Data-Acquisition Executable and Real-Time Processing .................................................. 53 4.3.1. Prototype Setup ............................................................................................................ 53 4.3.2. Synchronization Procedure ......................................................................................... 58 4.3.3. System Capabilities ...................................................................................................... 59 4.4. Three-Plane DPI Results .................................................................................................... 61 4.5. Advantages and Limitations of the Three-Plane DPI System ............................................ 66 Chapter 5. Two-Plane DPI System ............................................................................................ 67 5.1. Two-Plane DPI Concept & Optimization .......................................................................... 67 5.1.1. Concept Design ............................................................................................................ 67 5.1.2. Optimization ................................................................................................................ 68 5.2. Results ................................................................................................................................ 74 5.2.1. Efficiency & Field of View ........................................................................................... 74 5.2.2. MOX Measurements .................................................................................................... 78 5.2.3. Angular-Resolution Analysis ....................................................................................... 79 5.2.4. Simulation Validation .................................................................................................. 83 5.2.5. Material Characterization ........................................................................................... 84 5.3. Summary, Advantages, and Limitations of the Two-Plane DPI System ........................... 86 Chapter 6. Summary, Conclusion and Future Improvements ............................................... 89 6.1. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 89 6.2. Future Improvements ......................................................................................................... 91 Appendices ................................................................................................................................... 94 References .................................................................................................................................. 147 v List of Figures Fig. 1-1. Evolution of the atom model through the years [1]. ........................................................ 1 Fig. 2-1. Artist rendition of the Compton-camera set-up on the back of a truck. ........................... 9 Fig. 2-2. Principle of source localization with a two-plane