Modeling the tagged-neutron UXO identification technique using the Geant4 toolkit

Journal Article · Sun Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-011-1466-3· OSTI ID:1041621

Zhou, Y; Mitra, S; Zhu, X; Wang, Y

It is proposed to use 14 MeV neutrons tagged by the associated particle neutron time-of-flight technique (APnTOF) to identify the fillers of unexploded ordnances (UXO) by characterizing their carbon, nitrogen and oxygen contents. To facilitate the design and construction of a prototype system, a preliminary simulation model was developed, using the Geant4 toolkit. This work established the toolkit environment for (a) generating tagged neutrons, (b) their transport and interactions within a sample to induce emission and detection of characteristic gamma-rays, and (c) 2D and 3D-image reconstruction of the interrogated object using the neutron and gamma-ray time-of-flight information. Using the modeling, this article demonstrates the novelty of the tagged-neutron approach for extracting useful signals with high signal-to-background discrimination of an object-of-interest from that of its environment. Simulations indicated that an UXO filled with the RDX explosive, hexogen (C{sub 3}H{sub 6}O{sub 6}N{sub 6}), can be identified to a depth of 20 cm when buried in soil.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE SC OFFICE OF SCIENCE (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-98CH10886
• OSTI ID: 1041621
• Report Number(s): BNL-94624-2012-JA; JRNCDM; 400403109; TRN: US1202691
• Journal Information: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry; ISSN 0236-5731
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
BACKGROUND NOISE
CARBON
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES
CONSTRUCTION
DESIGN
DETECTION
FILLERS
G CODES
GAMMA DETECTION
GAMMA RADIATION
NEUTRON GENERATORS
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
NITROGEN
OXYGEN
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
SIGNALS
TAGGED PHOTON METHOD
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD