2021/11/29 by Caroline von Raesfeld, Patrick Huber
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Chemistry #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Detector #Engineering #Environmental science #Germanium #Neutrino #Neutrino Physics Research #Nuclear engineering #Nuclear physics #Optics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Radiochemistry #Recoil #Semiconductor detector #Spent nuclear fuel #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.056002
5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2021/11/29 · openalex publication_date 2022/03/04 · arxiv updated 2022/03/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Increasing amounts of spent nuclear fuel are stored in dry storage casks for prolonged periods of time. To date no effective technology exists to re-verify cask contents should this become necessary. We explore the applicability of Coherent-Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEvNS) to monitor the content of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from dry storage casks. SNF produces neutrinos chiefly from 90Sr decays. We compare these results with what can be achieved via Inverse Beta Decay (IBD). We demonstrate that at low nuclear recoil energies CEvNS events rates exceed the IBD event rates by 2--3 orders of magnitude for a given detector mass. We find that a 10 kg argon or germanium detector 3 meters from a fuel cask can detect over 100 events per year if a nuclear recoil threshold under 100 eV can be achieved.