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Sensitivity of CEνNS-based detection to plutonium diversion from nuclear reactors

R. R. Sahu1,* and V. Jha1,2,†

  • *Contact author: sahur@barc.gov.in
  • †Contact author: vjha@barc.gov.in

Phys. Rev. D 113, L091301 – Published 22 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/43gl-836f

Abstract

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) provides a pathway for reactor monitoring via compact detectors, benefiting from its enhanced cross section relative to inverse beta decay. We present a benchmark estimate of the sensitivity of CEνNS-based detectors to changes in the nuclear recoil spectrum caused by variations in reactor fuel composition, including Pu239 diversion. Incorporating spectral-shape information alongside rate measurements reduces the exposure required to detect a given amount of diverted plutonium compared to rate-only approaches. Across reactors of varying thermal power and fuel enrichment, low-power enriched-fuel reactors offer the most favorable detection conditions. Together, these results delineate how rate and spectral information in the CEνNS interaction channel encode its fundamental sensitivity to plutonium diversion across reactor configurations.

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