• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.1553-1561
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• 2024

Nondestructive radiography using cosmic ray muons has been used for decades to monitor nuclear reactor and spent nuclear fuel storage. Because nuclear fuel assemblies are highly dense and large, typical radiation probes such as x-rays cannot penetrate these target imaging objects. Although cosmic ray muons are highly penetrative for nuclear fuels as a result of their relatively high energy, the wide application of muon tomography is limited because of naturally low cosmic ray muon flux. This work presents a new image reconstruction algorithm to maximize the utility of cosmic ray muon in tomography applications. Muon momentum information is used to improve imaging resolution, as well as muon scattering angle. In this work, a new convolution was introduced known as M-value, which is a mathematical integration of two measured quantities: scattering angle and momentum. It captures the objects' quantity and density in a way that is easy to use with image reconstruction algorithms. The results demonstrate how to reconstruct images when muon momentum measurements are included in a typical muon scattering tomography algorithm. Using M-value improves muon tomography image resolution by replacing the scattering angle value without increasing computation costs. This new algorithm is projected to be a standard nondestructive radiography technique for spent nuclear fuel and nuclear material management.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.175-178
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• 2013

Recently, two instruments of cosmic ray are operating in South Korea. One is Seoul muon detector after October 1999 and the other is Daejeon neutron monitor (Kang et al. 2012) after October 2011. The former consists of four small plastic scintillators and the latter is the standard 18 NM 64 type. In this report, we introduce the characteristics of both instruments. We also analyze the flux variations of cosmic ray such as diurnal variation and Forbush decrease. As the result, the muon flux shows the typical seasonal and diurnal variations. The neutron flux also shows the diurnal variation. The phase which shows the maximum flux in the diurnal variation is around 13-14 local time. We found a Forbush decrease on 7 March 2012 by both instruments. It is also identified by Nagoya multi-direction muon telescope and Oulu neutron monitor. The observation of cosmic ray at Jangbogo station as well as in Korean peninsula can support the important information on space weather in local area. It can also enhance the status of Korea in the international community of cosmic ray experiments.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권7호
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• pp.2348-2356
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• 2021

As a relatively new radiation imaging method, the cosmic-ray muon scattering imaging technology can be used to prevent nuclear smuggling and is of considerable significance to nuclear safety. Proposed in this paper is a new reconstruction algorithm based on density clustering, aiming to improve inspection quality with better performance. Firstly, this new algorithm is introduced in detail. Then in order to eliminate the inequity of the density threshold caused by the heterogeneity of the muon flux in different positions, a new flux correction method is proposed. Finally, three groups of simulation experiments are carried out with the help of Geant4 toolkit to optimize the algorithm parameters, verify the correction method and test the inspection quality under shielded condition, and compare this algorithm with another common inspection algorithm under different conditions. The results show that this algorithm can effectively identify and locate nuclear material with low misjudging and missing rates even when there is shielding and momentum precision is low, and the threshold correcting method is universally effective for density clustering algorithms.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권1호
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• pp.208-215
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• 2021

Cosmic-ray muon scattering tomography (MST) technology is a new radiation imaging technology with unique advantages. As the performance of its image reconstruction algorithm has a crucial influence on the imaging quality, researches on this algorithm are of great significance to the development and application of this technology. In this paper, a fast inspection algorithm based on clustering analysis for the identification of the existence of nuclear materials is studied and optimized. Firstly, the principles of MST technology and a binned clustering algorithm were introduced, and then several simulation experiments were carried out using Geant4 toolkit to test the effects of exposure time, algorithm parameter, the size and structure of object on the performance of the algorithm. Based on these, we proposed two optimization methods for the clustering algorithm: the optimization of vertical distance coefficient and the displacement of sub-volumes. Finally, several sets of experiments were designed to validate the optimization effect, and the results showed that these two optimization methods could significantly enhance the distinguishing ability of the algorithm for different materials, help to obtain more details in practical applications, and was therefore of great importance to the development and application of the MST technology.

• 한국지반공학회논문집
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• 제38권11호
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• pp.137-147
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• 2022

지하시설물의 정확한 매설위치를 파악하기 위해 다양한 지구물리탐사방법이 사용되고 있고, 정확도를 개선하기 위해 다수의 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 우주선 뮤온이라는 입자를 활용하여 새로운 개념의 탐사 방법을 통해 지하매설물 탐사 가능성을 분석하였다. 신틸레이터(scintillator)와 광증배관(silicon photomultiplier)을 조합하여 소형 뮤온 검출기 시작품을 제작하고, 뮤온 입자 계수에 대한 보정 작업을 수행하였다. 시작품을 활용하여 모형 토조의 지반두께를 측정하였으며, 실측값과 약 3%의 오차로 실측값에 가까운 값을 추정할 수 있었다. 또한 뮤온 검출기를 지하매설물 탐사용으로 활용하기 위해 토모그래피 해석기술에 대한 이론적 기반을 분석하고, 천정각(zenith angle) 보정 방법을 제시하였다. 연구 결과 뮤온 입자에 의한 탐사는 밀도 그 자체를 고해상도로 해석하는 것이 가능한 기술로써 지하매설물 탐사를 위해 활용 가능할 것으로 판단된다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.35-43
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• 2011

The PHENIX Experiment is the largest of the four experiments that have taken data at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. PHENIX, the Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction eXperiment, is designed specifically to measure direct probes of the collisions such as electrons, muons, and photons. The primary goal of PHENIX is to discover and study a new state of matter called the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Among many particles, muons coming from W-boson decay gives us key information to analyze the spin of proton. Resistive plate chambers are proposed as a suitable solution as a muon trigger because of their fast response and good time resolution, flexibility in signal readout, robustness and the relatively low cost of production. The RPC detectors for upgrade were assembled and their performances were evaluated. The procedure to make the detectors better was optimized and described in detail in this thesis. The code based on ROOT was written and by using this the performance of the detectors made was evaluated, and all of the modules for north muon arm met the criteria and installation at PHENIX completed in November 2009. As RPC detectors that we made showed fast response, capacity of covering wide area with a resonable price and good spatial resolution, this will give the opportunity for applications, such as diagnosis and customs inspection system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.681-689
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• 2023

Purpose: Muons are characterized by a strong penetrating ability and can travel through thousands of meters of rock, making them ideal to image large volumes and substances typically impenetrable to, for example, electrons and photons. The feasibility of 3D image reconstruction and material identification based on a cosmic ray muons tomography (MT) system with triangular bar plastic scintillator detectors has been verified in this paper. Our prototype shows potential application value and the authors wish to apply this prototype system to 3D imaging. In addition, an MT experiment with the same detector system is also in progress. Methods: A simulation based on GEANT4 was developed to study cosmic ray muons' physical processes and motion trails. The yield and transportation of optical photons scintillated in each triangular bar of the detector system were reproduced. An image reconstruction algorithm and correction method based on muon scattering, which differs from the conventional PoCA algorithm, has been developed based on simulation data and verified by experimental data. Results: According to the simulation result, the detector system's position resolution is below 1 ~ mm in simulation and 2 mm in the experiment. A relatively legible 3D image of lead bricks in size of 20 cm × 5 cm × 10 cm used our inversion algorithm can be presented below 1× 10⁴ effective events, which takes 16 h of acquisition time experimentally. Conclusion: The proposed method is a potential candidate to monitor the cosmic ray MT accurately. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to discuss the application of the detector and the simulation results have indicated that the detector can be used in cosmic ray MT. The cosmic ray MT experiment is currently underway. Furthermore, the proposal also has the potential to scan the earth, buildings, and other structures of interest including for instance computerized imaging in an archaeological framework.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.317-323
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• 2014

Odyssey, one of the NASA's Mars exploration program and SELENE (Kaguya), a Japanese lunar orbiting spacecraft have a payload of Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS) for analyzing radioactive chemical elements of the atmosphere and the surface. In these days, gamma-ray spectroscopy with a High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector has been widely used for the activity measurements of natural radionuclides contained in the soil of the Earth. The energy spectra obtained by the HPGe detectors have been generally analyzed by means of the Window Analysis (WA) method. In this method, activity concentrations are determined by using the net counts of energy window around individual peaks. Meanwhile, an alternative method, the so-called Full Spectrum Analysis (FSA) method uses count numbers not only from full-absorption peaks but from the contributions of Compton scattering due to gamma-rays. Consequently, while it takes a substantial time to obtain a statistically significant result in the WA method, the FSA method requires a much shorter time to reach the same level of the statistical significance. This study shows the validation results of FSA method. We have compared the concentration of radioactivity of $^{40}K$, $^{232}Th$ and $^{238}U$ in the soil measured by the WA method and the FSA method, respectively. The gamma-ray spectrum of reference materials (RGU and RGTh, KCl) and soil samples were measured by the 120% HPGe detector with cosmic muon veto detector. According to the comparison result of activity concentrations between the FSA and the WA, we could conclude that FSA method is validated against the WA method. This study implies that the FSA method can be used in a harsh measurement environment, such as the gamma-ray measurement in the Moon, in which the level of statistical significance is usually required in a much shorter data acquisition time than the WA method.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• 제80권
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

Over the past few decades, tetrafluoroethane (TFE, R134a Freon)-based gases have been widely used in the operation of phenolic resistive plate chambers (RPCs) in many high-energy experiments. However, TFE has a high global warming potential (GWP); therefore, a search for new eco-friendly gases to replace traditional TFE-based ones is now unavoidable. In this research, we present cosmic-ray test results of a prototype RPC for the SHiP (search for hidden particles) experiment using 1.6- and 1.4-mm-thick RPC electrodes containing mixtures of various gases, including 1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (HFO1234ze), CO₂, iC₄H₁₀ and SF₆. We compare the performance data gathered with these new gas mixtures with those gathered with a traditional TFE-based gas used for RPCs in compact muon solenoid (CMS) and a toroidal LHC apparatus (ATLAS) experiments. The addition of CO₂ to the HFO1234ze-based gas was found to be fairly effective in reducing the working-point high voltage (HVWP) for RPC operation. The results of our experiments lead us to the conclusion that adding 40% CO₂ or less, when combined with HFO1234ze-based gas, is conducive to reliable detector performance for SHiP single-gap phenolic RPCs.