Nuclear Reactor Neutrino Detection with the Spherical Proportional Counter

Abstract

Nuclear Power Reactors are the most powerful neutrino sources as they emit large numbers of antineu- trinos, at energies up to 10 MeV. The reactor neutrino detection is very important for fundamental physics goals, as well as for applications, among them being the possibility to determine the isotopic composition of the reactor’s core. This could lead to application of neutrino spectroscopy for reactor monitoring, either for improving the reliability of operation of power reactors or as a method to accomplish certain safeguard and non-proliferation objectives. We present here the conditions on detecting neutrinos coming from nuclear reactors with the Spherical Proportional Counter (SPC), by exploiting the coherent neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering.