Even before being completed, the experience SNO+ succeeded in detecting an antineutrino signal in pure water, coming from the Bruce, Darlington and Pickering nuclear power stations, located hundreds of kilometers from Sudbury.
« To monitor nuclear reactors, we have other possibilities, using normal water »
Antineutrinos are by-products of the decay of a neutron into a proton and an electron in nuclear reactors.
Being able to observe these particles suggests that it is possible to use neutrino detectors to continuously monitor the power output of a reactor at great distances.
It is possible to build neutrino detectors with ultrapure water.
Obtain pure water thanks to underground laboratories:
At Vale’s Creighton Mine near Sudbury, SNOLAB’s SNO+ experiment sits two kilometers underground.
It is a five-story experimental vessel, currently filled with a liquid scintillator (similar to mineral oil) which produces light when charged particles pass through it.
(Photo)
”This place offers an ideal low-background environment for the study of extremely rare physical interactions. It is also the cleanest laboratory in the world ” Clarence Virtue, Professor and researcher at Laurentian University.
This discovery is a key factor in developing the ability to verify and monitor nuclear reactors worldwide.
An article detailing the SNO+ results will be published by the American Physical Society’s Physics Magazine on March 9.
Read also
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/754540/snolab-sudbury-nobel-physique
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