CEvNS for Nuclear Security

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, CE$\nu$NS, was observed for the first time in 2017 after forty years of experimentation, with neutrino energies about 10 times larger than those of reactor neutrinos. Here we assume that neutrinos from reactors and other MeV-sources eventually will be detected using CE$\nu$NS. CE$\nu$NS is attractive for applications in nuclear security since it may allow for significantly reduced detector masses, as well as detection of neutrinos from breeding reactions and spent nuclear fuel. On the other hand, inverse beta decay (IBD) has been routinely used for decades for the detection of reactor neutrinos. Therefore, it appears timely to compare the potential of CE$\nu$NS and IBD. We will use neutrino fluxes measured from reactors and their cross sections to compute the energy spectra of neutrinos from $^{235}$U, $^{238}$U, $^{239}$Pu, and $^{241}$Pu, and determine and compare neutrino detection event counts using either IBD or CE$\nu$NS. This characterization will inform future detector choices and is directly applicable to various neutrino sources, including reactor neutrinos, spent fuel neutrinos, and geoneutrinos. The result is potentially useful in monitoring spent nuclear fuel and reactors in support of nuclear nonproliferation safeguards.