Muon Tracking to Detect Special Nuclear Materials
Previous experiments have proven that nuclear assemblies can be imaged and identified inside of shipping containers using vertical trajectory cosmic-ray muons with two-sided imaging. These experiments have further demonstrated that nuclear assemblies can be identified by detecting fission products in coincidence with tracked muons. By developing these technologies, advanced sensors can be designed for a variety of warhead monitoring and detection applications. The focus of this project is to develop tomographic-mode imaging using near-horizontal trajectory muons in conjunction with secondary particle detectors. This will allow imaging in-situ without the need to relocate the objects and will enable differentiation of special nuclear material (SNM) from other high-Z materials.