Distributed source term analysis, a new approach to nuclear material inventory verification

The Distributed Source-Term Analysis (DSTA) technique is a new approach to measuring in-process material holdup that is a significant departure from traditional hold-up measurement methodology. The DSTA method is a means of determining the mass of nuclear material within a large, diffuse, volume using passive neutron counting. The DSTA method is a more efficient approach than traditional methods of holdup measurement and inventory verification. The time spent in performing DSTA measurement and analysis is a fraction of that required by traditional techniques. The error ascribed to a DSTA survey result is generally less than that from traditional methods. Also, the negative bias ascribed to γ-ray methods is greatly diminished because the DSTA method uses neutrons which are more penetrating than γ-rays.