Civil and Industrial Applications of Muography

Starting from the mid-1950s, techniques based on the absorption or scattering of cosmic ray (CR) muons, collectively referred to as muography, have been applied beyond the research domain only. Since the first pioneering measurement of the overburden of a railway tunnel, performed by E.P. George in 1955, applications of muography have steadily grown in number, especially in recent years. In this chapter, an overview of the most important civil and industrial applications of muography is given. Section 2 deals with applications of CR muons for the subsurface exploration, relevant in the mining industry, and for the monitoring of tunnels and other underground civil structures. Section 3 presents the use of muography for the inspection of large and/or inaccessible structures, such as a blast furnace and a nuclear reactor. Section 4 is dedicated to applications to nuclear controls, such as nuclear waste control, the inspection of dry storage casks for spent nuclear fuel, and vehicle and cargo scanning for nuclear contraband. Finally, Section 5 deals with the use of CR muons for the stability monitoring of civil and industrial structures, a technique generally referred to as muon metrology.