Prototype plutonium-storage monitor

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has fabricated cerium-activated lithium silicate scintillating fibers via a hot-downdraw process. These fibers typically have an operational transmission length (e{sup {minus}1} length) of greater than 2 meters. This permits the fabrication of devices that, hitherto, were not possible to consider. A prototype neutron monitor for scrap Pu-storage containers was fabricated and tested for 70 days, taking data with a variety of sources in a high-background environment. These data and their implication in the context of a storage-monitor situation are discussed.