Reactor neutrino detection for non-proliferation with the NUCIFER experiment

The major advances achieved over the last decades in the understanding of fundamental neutrino physics allow us to apply the detection of reactor antineutrino signals to automatic and nonintrusive nuclear power plant surveys. Here, we present the NUCIFER experiment, a 1-ton Gd-doped liquid scintillator detector to be installed a few 10 m from a reactor core for measurements of its thermal power and plutonium (Pu) content. The design of such a small volume detector has been focused on high detection efficiency (∼50% and good background rejection. Detailed simulations of reactor-emitted antineutrino spectrum and detector response have been developed and used to calculate the NUCIFER sensitivity to illicit retrieval of Pu from the core. These results have been presented in October 2008 to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has expressed its interest in the potentialities of this detector as a new safeguard tool.