Seminar: Neutron Imaging of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel at Idaho National Laboratory

Neutron radiography of irradiated nuclear fuel provides more comprehensive information about the internal condition of irradiated nuclear fuel than any other non-destructive technique to date. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has multiple nuclear fuels research and development programs that routinely evaluate irradiated fuels using neutron radiography. The Neutron Radiography reactor (NRAD) sits beneath a large shielded hot cell facility where neutron radiography and other evaluation techniques are routinely performed on these highly radioactive objects. The NRAD currently uses the foil-film transfer technique for imaging irradiated fuel, which provides high spatial resolution and large field of view, but is time consuming. INL is developing digital neutron imaging capabilities and new digital system concepts for imaging non-radioactive specimens with the ultimate goal of making neutron tomography a routine post-irradiation examination technique. This presentation includes a description of INL’s neutron imaging facilities and current neutron radiography capabilities, and a discussion of the many active R&D efforts for advancing the state-of-the-art for neutron imaging highly-radioactive objects.

About the Speaker

Dr. Aaron Craft received his BS and MS degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Missouri S&T in 2007 and 2009, respectively, and his PhD in Nuclear Science & Engineering from Colorado School of Mines in 2013. He has been working at INL for five years serving as a collaborator and principle investigator on numerous projects involving x-ray and neutron radiography and tomography. He is currently an R&D Scientist in the Advanced Characterization and Post-Irradiation Examination Department at INL working on x-ray and neutron material characterization techniques. His main areas of active research focus on developing advanced neutron imaging capabilities for use in high radiation environments and for highly-radioactive objects.

Hosted by Professors Vaibhav Sinha and Raymond Cao