Monitoring the Thermal Power of Nuclear Reactors with a Prototype Cubic Meter Antineutrino Detector

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In this paper, we estimate how quickly and how precisely a reactor's operational status and thermal power can be monitored over hour to month time scales, using the antineutrino rate as measured by a cubic meter scale detector.

• Our results are obtained from a detector we have deployed and operated at 25 meter standoff from a reactor core.
• This prototype can detect a prompt reactor shutdown within five hours, and monitor relative thermal power to three percent within seven days.
• Monitoring of short-term power changes in this way may be useful in the context of International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Reactor Safeguards Regime, or other cooperative monitoring regimes.