Monitoring Reactor Anti-Neutrinos Using a Plastic Scintillator Detector in a Mobile Laboratory

Technology developed for the T2K electromagnetic calorimeter has been adapted to make a small footprint, reliable, segmented detector to characterise anti-neutrinos emitted by nuclear reactors. The device has been developed and demonstrated by the University of Liverpool and underwent field tests at the Wylfa Magnox Reactor on Anglesey, UK. It was situated in a 20\,ft ISO shipping container, above ground, roughly 60\,m from the 1.5\,\GWt\ reactor core. Based on the design of the T2K Near Detector ECal, the device detects anti-neutrinos through the distinctive delayed coincidence signal of inverse $\beta$-decay interactions using extruded plastic scintillator and Hamamatsu Multi-Pixel Photon Counters.