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.
@article{arxiv.0804.4723,
title = {Monitoring the Thermal Power of Nuclear Reactors with a Prototype Cubic Meter Antineutrino Detector},
author = {A. Bernstein and N. S. Bowden and A. Misner and T. Palmer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.4723},
year = {2009}
}