Cosmic Ray Scattering Radiography

Abstract:

Cosmic ray muons are ubiquitous, are highly penetrating, and can be used to measure material densities by either measuring the stopping rate or by measuring the scattering of transmitted muons. The Los Alamos team has studied scattering radiography for a number of applications. Some results will be shown of scattering imaging for a range of practical applications, and estimates will be made of the utility of scattering radiography for nondestructive assessments of large structures and for geological surveying. Results of imaging the core of the Toshiba Nuclear Critical Assembly (NCA) Reactor in Kawasaki, Japan and simulations of imaging the damaged cores of the Fukushima nuclear reactors will be presented. Below is an image made using muons of a core configuration for the NCA reactor.