"A new more secure technology for guarding against theft from nuclear reactors has passed its first test.
Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., successfully monitored the power output of a relatively small nuclear power reactor by measuring the number of antineutrinos--ghostly particles generated by nuclear fission--that struck a refrigerator-size tank of liquid.
Although the technology still has hurdles to overcome, it could pave the way for a new tool in efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation.
Nuclear reactors offer a potential source of weapons-grade materials to would-be bomb makers, particularly plutonium, which gradually accumulates in the uranium fuel rods that power a reactor.
As part of its work to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an organization established in 1957 by international treaty to promote peaceful uses of nuclear power, monitors and inspects nuclear reactors used for research as well as those that generate electricity.
Inspectors compare operators' records with its own monitoring data to assess whether the reactor could have produced excess plutonium beyond what the operators declared, says Julian Whichello, head of the IAEA's Novel Technologies Program."
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