The Physics and Nuclear Nonproliferation Goals of WATCHMAN: A WAter CHerenkov Monitor for ANtineutrinos

This article describes the physics and nonproliferation goals of WATCHMAN, the WAter Cherenkov Monitor for ANtineutrinos. The baseline WATCHMAN design is a kiloton scale gadolinium-doped (Gd) light water Cherenkov detector, placed 13 kilometers from a civil nuclear reactor in the United States. In its first deployment phase, WATCHMAN will be used to remotely detect a change in the operational status of the reactor, providing a firstever demonstration of the potential of large Gd-doped water detectors for remote reactor monitoring for future international nuclear nonproliferation applications. A demonstration of remote monitoring of a reactor has been called for in the U.S. National Nuclear Security Adminstration’s (NNSA) Strategic Plan [1].