Industrial Laser-Driven Neutron Source Developed for Nondestructive Assessment of Nuclear Waste

A joint project led by Focused Energy is developing a laser-driven neutron source for industrial use. Called PLANET, the aim of the collaboration is to develop the laser source from individual components developed by the project partners and demonstrate how it can be used for the nondestructive examination of nuclear waste containers.

Funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research for €20 million ($22.4 million), the project is based on Focused Energy’s laser-driven radiation sources process, a non-destructive technology that can be used to characterize large components from the outside, such as bridges or shipping containers as well as tightly sealed containers. The technology will be paired with a high-performance laser being built by TRUMPF, Fraunhofer ILT, and Focused Energy that will fire up to 100 times per second at a self-renewing target developed in part by TU Darmstadt.

This compares to traditional methods of inspection that rely on giant particle accelerators to generate the necessary neutron beams. While particle accelerators require hundreds of meters to accelerate the particles, the laser will be able to do so over a distance of a few millimeters. The particles are then converted into directed neutrons and X-rays in order to illuminate the interior of components and containers.

Project partner Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf is currently working on a way to generate particle beams in a stable and reproducible manner, while Photonis Germany is developing a large-area, highly sensitive detector for imaging purposes. The device will detect the incoming neutrons and X-rays to generate high-resolution image information from them, as in conventional radiological procedures.