Abstract:
A current challenge of the international nuclear safeguards community is to independently measure the amount of plutonium created in a nuclear reactor.  Antineutrino monitors may provide a tool to make this necessary measurement, and are being developed in Livermore by a collaboration of Sandia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. This talk will review successes of the collaboration and discuss new detectors being developed to meet IAEA guidelines for a deployable antineutrino monitor.
 

Brief bio:
Scott is a graduate of the Purdue School of Nuclear Engineering.  He completed his bachelor’s degree in 2001, and studied under Prof. Bertodano’s guidance for his master’s degree. Scott earned a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan in 2007, with a dissertation on the use of a new electrode structure in high-pressure xenon ionization chambers. He became a staff member at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2007, primarily working on radiation detection problems in homeland security.  He joined Sandia National Laboratories in 2009, and has spent most of his time working on the antineutrino detection program.