Intercomparison of the response of different photon and neutron detectors around a spent fuel cask

An intercomparison of the response of different photon and neutron detectors was performed in several measurement positions around a spent fuel cask (type TN 12/2B) filled with 4 MOX and 8 UO₂ 15 × 15 PWR fuel assemblies at the nuclear power plant Gösgen (KKG) in Switzerland. The instruments used in the study were both active and passive, photon and neutron detectors calibrated either for ambient or personal dose equivalent.The aim of the measurement campaign was to compare the responses of the radiation instruments to routinely used detectors.It has been shown that especially the indications of the neutron detectors are strongly dependent on the neutron spectra around the cask due to their different energy responses. However, routinely used active photon and neutron detectors were shown to be reliable instruments.     

Measurements of the high energy neutron component of cosmic radiation fields in aircraft using etched track dosemeters

Measurements of the complex cosmic radiation field in aircraft at altitude are made with a passive survey meter comprising routine-use thermoluminescent detectors and etched track detectors. The energy dependence of response of the etched track detectors used to determine the neutron component has been characterized, partly, up to a neutron energy of 180 MeV. The neutron detectors are routinely calibrated in the CERN/EC Reference Field. The 15% determination level for total dose equivalent is 100 microSv. The evidence is that the passive survey meter provides a reliable determination of route dose.     

ZnS(Ag)/<Superscript>6</Superscript>LiF and LiI(Eu) scintillators and silicon photomultipliers for thermal neutron detectors with high space and time resolution

ZnS(Ag)/⁶LiF and LiI(Eu) scintillators for thermal neutron detectors have been investigated and neutron detectors based on these scintillators and photomultipliers have been tested. The efficiencies of these detectors are 5 and 66%, respectively. The possibility of developing position-sensitive detectors of thermal neutrons with high space and time resolution is discussed.     

Development of neutron detectors and neutron radiography at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Design and development of neutron detectors and R&D work in neutron radiography (NR) for non-destructive evaluation are important parts of the neutron beam and allied research programme of Solid State Physics Division (SSPD) of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The detectors fabricated in the division not only meet the in-house requirement of neutron spectrometers but also the need of other divisions in BARC, Department of Atomic Energy units and some universities and research institutes in India and abroad for a variety of applications. The NR facility set up by SSPD at Apsara reactor has been used for a variety of applications in nuclear, aerospace, defense and metallurgical industries. The work done in the development of neutron detectors and neutron radiography is reported in this article.      

Gamma and neutron dose measurements with solid state nuclear track detectors

An attempt has been made to explore the possibility of using solid state nuclear track detectors for the estimation of gamma and neutron doses based on the use of changes in activation energy of degradation of these detectors, due to irradiation (gamma-neutron), as a means of dosimetry. Thermogravimetry (TG) has been applied as a tool for these studies carried out on Lexan and CR-39 track detectors. A linear relationship observed between the decrease in activation energy and the dose (gamma-neutron) received by the detectors suggests the possibility of the use of these detectors as gamma and neutron dosimeters.      

强光一号装置单氘丝中子发射实验研究

 介绍了利用飞行时间技术测量Z箍缩装置单氘丝中子发射。实验发现，Z箍缩中子发射过程中,伴随产生很强的硬X射线，利用铝丝阵产生硬X射线的实验，建立较好的硬X射线屏蔽,大大减弱了它的辐射强度。所采用的双闪烁探测器中子探测系统，进行了3个发次的单氘丝负载实验，确认产生了聚变氘氘中子。4172发次实验测量结果表明，中子产额1.5×10⁹，中子能量为(2.45±0.26) MeV。实验结合分幅照相数据分析认为，峰电流和负载未能很好匹配，等离子体存在不稳定现象。     

Study of bubble damage detectors for neutron detection

Bubble damage detectors have been prepared by using polyacrylamide as detector solid and freon as detector liquid. Tests show that the prepared detectors are sensitive to fast neutrons and have proportionality between bubble number and neutron fluence within a certain range of neutron fluence. Therefore, it can be used as a fast neutron detector and a dosimeter. Our experiments also show that the sensitivity of the detector increases with temperature.     

Stand for testing scintillation neutron detectors

A stand for studying the characteristics of time-of-flight neutron detectors is described. Plastic scintillation detectors in the form of rectangular prisms with cross sections of 100 × 100 and 100 × 200 mm² and lengths of 300, 400, and 500 mm are viewed through by photomultipliers from the two ends. The detectors are irradiated with a collimated 14-MeV neutron beam produced in the d + t → n+ ⁴He reaction. The collimated beam makes it possible to investigate the spatial resolution of long detectors. The interaction point is determined either from the arrival time of light pulses to the opposite ends of the scintillators or from the ratio of the amplitudes of the signals at the ends of the scintillators. The stand proposed also makes it possible to measure the absolute efficiency of detectors of different length at a neutron energy of 14 MeV.     

Study of a nTHGEM-based thermal neutron detector

With new generation neutron sources, traditional neutron detectors cannot satisfy the demands of the applications, especially under high flux. Furthermore, facing the global crisis in ~3He gas supply, research on new types of neutron detector as an alternative to ~3He is a research hotspot in the field of particle detection. GEM(Gaseous Electron Multiplier) neutron detectors have high counting rate, good spatial and time resolution, and could be one future direction of the development of neutron detectors. In this paper, the physical process of neutron detection is simulated with Geant 4 code, studying the relations between thermal conversion efficiency, boron thickness and number of boron layers. Due to the special characteristics of neutron detection, we have developed a novel type of special ceramic n THGEM(neutron THick GEM) for neutron detection. The performance of the n THGEM working in different Ar/CO_2 mixtures is presented, including measurements of the gain and the count rate plateau using a copper target X-ray source. A detector with a single n THGEM has been tested for 2-D imaging using a ~(252)Cf neutron source. The key parameters of the performance of the n THGEM detector have been obtained, providing necessary experimental data as a reference for further research on this detector.     

Neutron detectors for scattering experiments at HANARO

Position sensitive detectors (PSD) measure the distribution of scattered neutrons and are essential tools for neutron scattering experiments. Various types of neutron detectors used at neutron diffractometers are conventional tube detectors, 1-D and 2-D PSDs. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing various kinds of PSDs to improve the instrument performance and to develop new scattering instruments. Our development work is initiated with 1-D PSD for residual stress analysis spectrometer and finally the technology is extended to development of 2-D PSD with planar and curved geometry. All PSDs are based on multiwire grid assembly with delay line readout method for position encoding, as the response is faster than charge division method and enables higher count rate capability. Design details and operational characteristics of some of the PSDs developed, for application at neutron scattering instruments are presented.      

New approach to detection of solar flare neutrons

The possibilities of improving the characteristics of neutron telescopes are discussed. A new type of solar neutron detectors is proposed, in which the signal-to-noise ratio is increased by a factor of 6–7. It is proposed to place the neutron detector deep under water (absorber), remaining open an angle of ≈0.1 sr in the direction of the Sun. It is also shown that, due to the high directed sensitivity and extremely low background level, it becomes possible to determine more exactly the neutron energy. It is proposed to develop a world-wide network of such detectors by the next (24th) solar cycle.     

沟槽型硅微结构中子探测器的蒙特卡罗模拟研究

采用蒙特卡罗模拟方法研究了微结构参数、填充致密度等因素对沟槽型微结构半导体中子探测器(MSND)性能的影响规律,并开展了沟槽型MSND的优化设计研究。研究表明,随着沟槽间距的增加,MSND的探测效率呈下降趋势;当沟槽间距固定时,存在最优的沟槽宽度使得探测效率最大化;沟槽深度越大,探测效率越高。沟槽宽度和沟槽间距为15μm和5μm是一对优化的参数组合,可保证较高的探测效率和较平稳的系统甄别阈-探测效率曲线。当系统甄别阈取300keV时,沟槽宽度、间距和深度分别为15,5μm和200μm时的MSND热中子本征探测效率可达37.77%,与平面探测器相比提高了9.2倍;对137 Cs源662keV伽马射线的中子-伽马射线甄别比可达4.1×103,与平面探测器相比提高了23.7倍。本工作从理论上证明了MSND可解决传统平面型半导体中子探测器探测效率低的难题,同时可保持半导体探测器中子-伽马射线甄别容易的特点。     

Cosmic-ray neutron spectrometry by solid state detectors

Extensive data have been gathered since the early 1990s on the response of different detectors based on the registration of neutron-induced fission in bismuth, gold, tantalum by the spark replica counter and the thin film breakdown counter. These detectors make it possible to exploit the excellent characteristics of the fission reactions in bismuth, gold and tantalum for the measurements of high-energy neutrons.

Most of the investigations have been carried out at the quasi-monoenergetic neutron beam facility at The Svedberg Laboratory-TSL of the Uppsala University in cooperation with the Khlopin Radium Institute (KRI).

The responses of different fission detectors in the intermediate range of neutron energy (35–180 MeV) have been evaluated: a region where the predictive power of available nuclear reaction models and codes is not reliable yet. For neutron energy greater than 200 MeV, the fission-detector responses have been derived from the data of the proton fission cross-sections.

Finally, by using the ratio of the responses of these detectors, a simple and accurate way to evaluate the spectrum hardness can be obtained, thus providing a tool to obtain spectral information needed for neutron dosimetry without the need to know the entire spectrum.

The experimentally measured spectra obtained to-date have different shapes and they are also different from those calculated.

In this paper, a new approach will be reported to analyse the existing spectra by using response ratios of different detectors. Preliminary data have been already obtained for the high-energy neutron spectrum from the CERN concrete facility.     

Effect of gamma energy, temperature and shelf life on the response of gamma and BD-100R neutron bubble detectors

The use of commercially available bubble detectors for gamma and neutron detection has been reported by several groups. We have carried out systematic investigations to study the response of gamma bubble detector as a function of energy, the effect of waiting time on sensitivity of BD-100R neutron bubble detector and the effect of shelf life on both types of bubble detectors. Our results show that the response of the gamma bubble detector is energy dependent. Waiting time of up to 260 hours for BD-100R neutron detector has no significant effect. Both the detectors have a limited shelf life. These factors must be taken into account while using these detectors.     

Applications of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He neutron detectors

Neutron detectors with ³He-filled proportional counters are described. The use of these detectors in measuring the probability of neutron emission (in particular, multiparticle neutron emission) after the β decay of neutron-rich nuclei and in studying rare events of spontaneous fission of superheavy nuclei is considered.     

Inorganic scintillators for thermal neutron detection

A review is presented of R&D of inorganic scintillators for position-sensitive thermal neutron detectors to be used at new spallation neutron sources.     

Energy deposition distributions caused by fast neutrons in converter type silicon detectors

Polyethylene converter silicon detectors have been developed as part of a dosimetry system for the application in neutron fields. Signals have been investigated which are mainly caused by reactions occurring when neutrons hit the PE converter or the silicon diode directly. In this work, neutron interactions in the components of a PE converter silicon sensor have been calculated to determine energy deposition distributions for neutron energies from 1.2 v MeV to 14.8 v MeV. Experiments in quasi-monoenergetic neutron fields have been performed. For the simulation of the neutron interactions with the detector layers, the GSF neutron interaction code NISD has been applied. The transport of ions has been calculated separately by means of the program TRIM. It has been shown that by the use of these concepts and models, a rather good agreement of measured and computed pulse height distributions can be obtained and, consequently, the response of converter type detectors to neutron radiation can be determined.     

Response of converter semiconductor detectors on neutron radiation

Active detectors based on Si semiconductors are being developed for individual radiation protection purposes in mixed neutron and photon fields. These devices are constructed as combined converter semiconductor detectors. Incident neutrons interact with the converter or detector nuclei and produce charged particles that can deposit energy in the semiconductor and cause a signal. The aim of this work is the determination of the response of such detectors to incident neutrons by experiment and by computation. The computer model consists of the neutron interaction simulation and the calculation of the ion transport. An analysis of measured and computed pulse height distributions for 5 MeV incident neutrons is presented as well as a comparison.     

用于n,γ混合场的新型脉冲中子探测器研究

新型脉冲中子探测器采用特殊工艺将两个PIN半导体组合而成.利用脉冲γ辐射研究了探测器对γ的响应；利用脉冲中子源研究了探测器对DT中了的响应，并与闪烁探测器进行了比较 .结果表明：脉冲中子探测器对脉冲γ辐射基本不灵敏，对脉冲中子辐射的灵敏程度依赖于中子辐射体，是一种用于n，γ混合脉冲辐射场中子测量的新型探测器. 关键词： 硅半导体 差分补偿 脉冲中子探测器 n γ混合场     

High-energy neutron spectrometry

We review progress made in the last quarter of a century in the field of neutron spectrometry over a wide energy range from ??1 MeV to a few tens of GeV. We consider spectrometers and detectors constructed in various laboratories for neutron measurements in numerous fundamental and applied studies. We discuss the results of works devoted to the development of experimental methods and the elaboration of new detectors. We pursue some promising avenues of further investigations.