Investigating the Nuclear Safeguards Technology Development Pipeline Through the Research and Development of Fs-LIBS for Uranium Enrichment Facilities

The focus of this dissertation will be on the investigation of the nuclear safeguards Technology Readiness Level (TRL) development pipeline through the research and operator suitability of employing femtosecond (fs-) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) as a nuclear safeguards technology to measure the assay of Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) in the enrichment stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. This research will help clarify a pathway for a smoother transition from the development of a safeguards technology in a lab environment to its use in operations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to meet their growing demands for both current and future nuclear safeguards missions.

This dissertation will first investigate the proposal of a pathway to a novel legal framework for the international standardization and harmonization in advancing the nuclear safeguards technology development pipeline in support of the IAEA. After that, the project scope of nuclear safeguards technology development will focus on the case study of fs-LIBS through the development and implementation of a testing regime to benchmark the sample chamber utilized in the fs-LIBS system before testing the capabilities of the fs-LIBS system further through a variety of experiments containing radioactive and non-radioactive Synthetic Nuclear Melt Glass and authentic Trinitite in preparation of fs-LIBS of UF6. The next component will explore the potential challenges from the reactant products when conducting fs-LIBS of UF6 inside the sample chamber using Raman Spectroscopy techniques. The final benchmark for this project will focus on the novel coupling of an operator friendly machine learning interface that is trained and tested utilizing datasets from fs-LIBS of UF6 samples at 421.3 nanometers (nm) with varying uranium enrichments from depleted to over sixty percent to verify unknown UF6 assay measurements. Conclusions will then be made regarding the TRL development of fs-LIBS for considerations as a nuclear safeguards technology and the progress that remains for it to be utilized in IAEA operations as a verification technology to help them reach safeguards conclusions with their Member States.