Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics (INPA) at LBNL
The INPA Seminar weekly talks are on Fridays, starting at 12:00 pm, unless informed otherwise. The seminar talk starts with a brief presentation of the weekly scientific news. Typically, the talks conclude by 1:00 pm. The seminars are held in the Sessler Conference Room, located in Bldg. 50A- 5132.
The committee members are:
The seminar schedule for the Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics (INPA) is tentative and becomes final a few days before the Friday talk.
Please send all suggestions for future INPA talks and speakers to the INPA Committee.
To be added to the INPA News Mailing List, please contact Erica Hall.
- This event has passed.
VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Tomi Akindele (LLNL)
November 13, 2020 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Tomi Akindele (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Title: Antineutrinos as a Nuclear Safeguards Tool
Abstract:
To date, antineutrino experiments built for the purpose of demonstrating a nonproliferation capability have typically employed organic scintillator, and been situated as close to the core as possible – typically a few meters to tens of meters distant, and have not exceeded a few tons in size.
One problem with this approach is that proximity to the reactor core requires accommodation by the host facility. Water Cherenkov detectors located offsite, at distances of a few kilometers or greater, may facilitate non-intrusive monitoring and verification of reactor activities over a large area.
As the standoff distance increases, the detector target mass must scale accordingly. This talk quantifies the degree to which a kiloton-scale gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector can exclude the existence of undeclared reactors within a specified radial distance, and remotely detect the presence of a hidden reactor in the presence of declared reactors, by verifying the operational power and standoff distance.
A Feldman-Cousins based likelihood analysis was used to quantify the detector’s ability to exclude the existence of undeclared reactors. A 1-kton scale Water Cherenkov detector can exclude gigawatt-scale nuclear reactors up to tens of kilometers. When attempting to identify the specific location of a reactor, the detector response and analysis cannot delineate between the reactor power and baseline.
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/97530987599?pwd=SkJ5Zk15bjVuT2V1SHRtOG9sNGFIUT09
Meeting ID: 975 3098 7599
Passcode: 303821
Abstract: https://inpa.lbl.gov/event/virtual-inpa-seminar-tomi-akindele-llnl/
INPA guests from campus can now come to the lab early on Fridays. The INPA Common Room (50-5026) is reserved for our guests from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Note that the seminars are now held in 50A-5132 to accommodate a more significant number of attendees.
CPTea Series (also known as INPA Tea Series)
The Physics Division CPTea Series invites you to an In-Person Tea Series 1st Friday of every month at 3:30 pm INPA Conference Room 50-5026.
Everyone is welcome to attend the open forum. Tea and light refreshments will be served.
INPA Common Room (50-5026)
Fridays
3:30 pm
Access to the Lab
For a shuttle pass, please email Erica Hall. The pass is only valid for the day of the seminar.