Muography on Dry Stored Spent Nuclear Fuel

Operating nuclear power plants poses the challenge of effectively handling spent nuclear fuel, the byproduct of the energy generation process. As part of the waste management strategy, various countries store the spent fuel in dedicated casks specially designed to effectively shield the radiation from humans and the environment. Traditional monitoring methods for these casks face limitations in resolving the cask’s inventory to a small scale. In response, muography, an innovative imaging technique utilizing cosmic muons, is being researched. It measures and analyzes the changes in the flux of cosmic muons before and after traversing the spent fuel cask. The cosmic particles possess the potential to enhance resolution at smaller scales. This technique can offer valuable insights into its content and eventually the integrity of spent fuel assemblies and spent fuel rods. This paper provides an overview of the application, limitations, and potential of muography for spent fuel storage casks, with a particular focus on the CASTOR® V/19 cask.