Muon Tracing and Image Reconstruction Algorithms for Cosmic Ray Muon Computed Tomography

Cosmic ray muon-computed tomography (
$\mu$
CT) is a new imaging modality with unique characteristics that could be particularly important for diverse applications including nuclear nonproliferation, spent nuclear fuel monitoring, cargo scanning, and volcano imaging. The strong scattering dependence of muons on atomic number Z in combination with high penetration range could offer a significant advantage over existing techniques when dense, shielded containers must be imaged. However,
$\mu$
CT reconstruction using conventional filtered back-projection is limited due to the overly simple assumptions that do not consider the curved path caused by multiple Coulomb scattering prompting the need for more sophisticated approaches to be developed. In this paper, we argue that the use of improved muon tracing and scattering angle projection algorithms as well as an algebraic reconstruction technique should produce muon tomographic images with improved quality–or require fewer muons to produce the same image quality–compared to the case where conventional methods are used. We report on the development and assessment of three novel muon tracing methods and two scattering angle projection methods for
$\mu$
CT. Simulated dry storage casks with single and partial missing fuel assemblies were used as numerical examples to assess and compare the proposed methods. The reconstructed images showed an expected improvement in image quality when compared with conventional techniques, even without muon momentum information, which should lead to improved detection capability, even for partial defects.