NAVAL PROPULSION REACTOR INSPECTIONS AND ANTINEUTRINO DETECTION SAFEGUARDS

Brazil and Australia are the first Non-Nuclear Weapon States (NNWS) to persue programs for acquiring a Conventionally Armed Nuclear Submarine (CANS) - the PROSUB and AUKUS programs, respectively. Both states have signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and comprehensive safeguards agreements, committing to comply with its provisions in order to use nuclear technology exclusively for peaceful purposes and to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, expressed in a system of safeguards (inspections and monitoring) by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure that materials and technologies are not diverted to the development of nuclear weapons. The execution of these inspections on fixed, land-based nuclear reactors has been stable and without setbacks in these countries. But how to safeguard mobile naval reactors? In order to seek answers to questions like this, nuclear researchers have dedicated themselves to the development of alternative technologies, based on antineutrinos, which have already been successfully employed in land-based nuclear power plants.The purpose of this study is to initiate a debate on the possibilities of applying these antineutrino technologies, in order to verify the risk of diverting nuclear fuel for the purpose of constructing explosive nuclear devices. Portable antineutrino detectors using filters may, perhaps, preserve the technological secrets of the reactor and fuel of naval nuclear propulsion systems, as well as tactical information about the use of these naval assets during their operations, according to the aspirations of the navies and governments involved in such projects.