Seismically detecting nuclear reactor operations using a power spectral density (Psd) misfit detector

David L. Guenaga, Chengping Chai, Monica Maceira, Omar E. Marcillo, Aaron A. Velasco

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

To explore the ability to indirectly detect and attribute various operations conducted at a nuclear reactor using waveform data, we investigated the seismic signals recorded near the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Specifically, we processed seismic data collected from a single seismoa- coustic station, WACO, near the HFIR facility, and employed a power spectral density misfit detector to identify signals of interest and associate the detections with operational events. Initial results suggest that this method provides a promising means of regularly detecting at least 19 unique operations. With additional station deployment and more comprehensive data logs, we anticipate that future analysis will offer an additional means to seismically monitor nuclear reactors (such as HFIR) health and performance more accu­rately.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1378-1391
Number of pages14
JournalBulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Volume111
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Funding

This article has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this article, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. This research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Furthermore, this article is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 1930954. David Guenaga is supported by The Under Secretary of Defense-Research and Engineering (USD/R&E), National Defense Education Program (NDEP)/BA-1, Basic Research via a Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship. This article has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to pub-lish or reproduce the published form of this article, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. This research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility oper¬ated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Furthermore, this article is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 1930954. David Guenaga is supported by The Under Secretary of Defense-Research and Engineering (USD/R&E), National Defense Education Program (NDEP)/BA-1, Basic Research via a Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship.

FundersFunder number
Basic Research
National Defense Education Program/BA-1
R&E)
U.S. Government
Under Secretary of Defense-Research and Engineering
National Science Foundation1930954
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
University of San Diego

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