EPJ Web of Conferences (Mar 2014)

A Prototype Scintillating-Fibre Tracker for the Cosmic-ray Muon Tomography of Legacy Nuclear Waste Containers

  • Kaiser R.,
  • Clarkson A.,
  • Hamilton D. J.,
  • Hoek M.,
  • Ireland D. G.,
  • Johnston J. R.,
  • Keri T.,
  • Lumsden S.,
  • Mahon D. F.,
  • McKinnon B.,
  • Murray M.,
  • Nutbeam-Tuffs S.,
  • Shearer C.,
  • Staines C.,
  • Yang G.,
  • Zimmerman C.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20146610005
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 66
p. 10005

Abstract

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Cosmic-ray muons are highly-penetrative charged particles observed at sea level with a flux of approximately 1 cm−2 min−1. They interact with matter primarily through Coulomb scattering which can be exploited in muon tomography to image objects within industrial nuclear waste containers. This paper presents the prototype scintillating-fibre detector developed for this application at the University of Glasgow. Experimental results taken with test objects are shown in comparison to results from GEANT4 simulations. These results verify the simulation and show discrimination between the low, medium and high-Z materials imaged.