Boykin, Marcellus Sunjeric

Shielding an Infrasound Sensor for INL’s Fuel Conditioning Facility

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been pyroprocessing spent fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II). This process occurs in the Fuel Conditioning Facility (FCF) which houses the treatment of DOE-owned sodium-bonded metal fuel. The electrometallurgical methods used in FCF treat the spent fuel from EBR-II for recycling of the uranium. The radiation field present inside FCF throughout the pyroprocessing stages affects any electronic sensors and devices that may be used for research. An example of such device is a seismoacoustic sensor which detects sound and vibration waves from the equipment in the facility. Seismoacoustic sensors are of interest to research nonproliferation techniques.