NEUTRON COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

Dr. Pope performed graduate research in the area of neutron computed tomography. Specifically investigating the potential use of neutron computed tomography for the inspection of spent nuclear fuel assemblies. A pdf copy of his dissertation is provided below. Additionally a downloadable avi file is available below which shows a short video of a PWR assembly cross-section neutron tomography image being generated. 

The mathematical representation of a neutron beam passing through an object is provided.  

A tomography image contour plot of a spent PWR assembly is shown.  The image was generated from a series of MCNP simulations.  Several irradiated fuel elements in the assembly model were replaced with unirradiated fuel elements.  Inspection of the tomography image allows identification of replaced fuel elements (note the corner on the left).

The figure below shows a comparison of measured neutron beam transmission through an irradiated fuel assembly and an MCNP simulation of the neutron beam and fuel assembly.  For addition information of the comparison results see Nuclear Technology 182 pp. 335-348 (2013). 

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In 2015, working with Dr. Pope, Edward Lum developed an automated process of generating the MCNP tomography input files, executing MCNP, and generating the resulting tomography images all from within MATLAB. The code, call MEMTOS, significantly improves the ability to investigate different tomography options. For additional information on MEMTOS, see Annals of Nuclear Energy 91 (2016) pp. 127-134.