R&D | TECHNICAL
muon tomography a potential candidate for the safety and safeguarding applications. One example of a safeguarding application could be confirmation of the emplacement of canisters. With sufficient detector resolution, images of canisters in place can be obtained along with density information to determine whether canisters have been replaced with dummies. Similarly, during the geological repository
construction process, muon tomography can be used to understand the condition of the host rock and identify any structural defects that may be present. Leaving muon detectors in the facility once construction is complete would allow continuous monitoring for structural defects as they develop over time as well as monitoring voids, movement or water ingress. A program of work to assess the potential of
muon tomography to address a range of safety and safeguarding challenges in the nuclear waste industry is currently under consideration by a consortium of European partners, including Geoptic. Muon tomography is not limited to the imaging of
voids; the same methodology can be used to image large objects with densities significantly different from those of the surrounding environment – where ‘significant’ is largely defined by the length of time available for flux measurement and the sensor detection area able to be practically deployed. This has led to several other applications, such as the imaging of large scale industrial equipment: a blast furnace
(Bonechi, 2021); and, a nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, in Japan, after a tsunami led to three reactor meltdowns, in 2011, but the high levels of radiation made conventional imaging techniques unstable (Miyadera, 2013). Over the past decade, the ability of muon tomography
to non-invasively discover geological irregularities has led to promising research outcomes for the mining sector. Relying solely on the natural cosmic radiation, muon tomographic surveys have minimal environmental and cost implications when compared to existing investigation methods, such as seismic surveys. One feasibility study used the method to study a
known volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit in Canada, located approximately 70m (77yd) below ground. The system measured muon flux levels passing down through the entire ore structure and the recorded sensor data showed greater and lesser density regions, enabling a 3D density model to be produced which was then found to closely correspond to a similar one produced previously, derived from on-site drill core measurements (Bryman et al., 2014). Muon tomography is a novel imaging technique
that harnesses naturally-occurring highly penetrating radiation to form images of otherwise difficult-to- access objects in a non- invasive manner. It is being applied to surveying challenges in the rail, mining and nuclear sectors. Further applications are expected as the technique becomes accepted and adopted.
REFERENCES
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● Bonechi, L., et al. (2021) (BLEMAB Collaboration), BLEMAB European project: muon imaging technique applied to blast furnaces.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.10327
● Bryman, D., et al. (2014) Muon Geotomography – Bringing New Physics to Orebody Imaging. In Building Exploration Capability for the 21st Century. Society of Economic Geologists. ISBN 978-1-62949-142-4. doi: 10.5382/ SP.18.11. https: //
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