Short-Pulse Photoneutron Production on Beryllium Using the Mercury Pulsed Power X-ray Source
Abstract
An x-ray beam can produce neutrons using beryllium as a photoneutron converter because of the relatively low 9Be(ɤ,n) reaction energy threshold. Previous photoneutron production simulations have focused on using a linear accelerator and heavy water to generate photoneutrons for potential medical therapies. This experimental work focused on creating a short, intense neutron pulse using the Mercury pulsed power machine at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, which fired a Bremsstrahlung photon beam with an energy endpoint of 4.8 MeV. Several independent detector systems were included in the experiment to measure both the characteristics of the x-ray pulse and resulting photoneutrons. We discovered the neutron pulse follows the time history of the x-ray pulse, enabling neutron pulses as short as 30 ns with less than 10% shot-to-shot variation. The approach offers a high-flux of neutrons with a higher end-point energy than using a heavy water converter. Previous experiments at Mercury have generated fission neutrons using a higher x-ray endpoint and 238U(n,f). Results indicate that with an optimized diode and beryllium converter target design, neutron production could be further increased.
- Authors:
-
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- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
- Nevada National Security Site, Mission Support and Test Services LLC
- U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
- Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Nevada National Security Site/Mission Support and Test Services LLC; Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory; Nevada National Security Site, Mission Support and Test Services LLC; Sandia National Laboratories; U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1526047
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/NV/03624-0168
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-NA0003624
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting and Expo , Orlando, Florida, USA, November 11-15, 2018
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; photoneutron, beryllium, Mercury Pulsed Power X-Ray Source
Citation Formats
Duke, D.L., Archuleta, T., Boswell, M., Espy, M., Gehring, A., Haines, T., Herrmann, H., Johnson, C.R., Kim, Y. H., McCumber, M.P., Meaney, K.D., White, B., Baker, S., Corredor, A., Fegenbush, L., Gall, B., Heika, M., Kruschwitz, C., Montoya, K., Jackson, S.L., Richardson, A.S., Schumer, J., Zier, J.C., and Ormond, E. Short-Pulse Photoneutron Production on Beryllium Using the Mercury Pulsed Power X-ray Source. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web.
Duke, D.L., Archuleta, T., Boswell, M., Espy, M., Gehring, A., Haines, T., Herrmann, H., Johnson, C.R., Kim, Y. H., McCumber, M.P., Meaney, K.D., White, B., Baker, S., Corredor, A., Fegenbush, L., Gall, B., Heika, M., Kruschwitz, C., Montoya, K., Jackson, S.L., Richardson, A.S., Schumer, J., Zier, J.C., & Ormond, E. Short-Pulse Photoneutron Production on Beryllium Using the Mercury Pulsed Power X-ray Source. United States.
Duke, D.L., Archuleta, T., Boswell, M., Espy, M., Gehring, A., Haines, T., Herrmann, H., Johnson, C.R., Kim, Y. H., McCumber, M.P., Meaney, K.D., White, B., Baker, S., Corredor, A., Fegenbush, L., Gall, B., Heika, M., Kruschwitz, C., Montoya, K., Jackson, S.L., Richardson, A.S., Schumer, J., Zier, J.C., and Ormond, E. Tue .
"Short-Pulse Photoneutron Production on Beryllium Using the Mercury Pulsed Power X-ray Source". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1526047.
@article{osti_1526047,
title = {Short-Pulse Photoneutron Production on Beryllium Using the Mercury Pulsed Power X-ray Source},
author = {Duke, D.L. and Archuleta, T. and Boswell, M. and Espy, M. and Gehring, A. and Haines, T. and Herrmann, H. and Johnson, C.R. and Kim, Y. H. and McCumber, M.P. and Meaney, K.D. and White, B. and Baker, S. and Corredor, A. and Fegenbush, L. and Gall, B. and Heika, M. and Kruschwitz, C. and Montoya, K. and Jackson, S.L. and Richardson, A.S. and Schumer, J. and Zier, J.C. and Ormond, E.},
abstractNote = {An x-ray beam can produce neutrons using beryllium as a photoneutron converter because of the relatively low 9Be(ɤ,n) reaction energy threshold. Previous photoneutron production simulations have focused on using a linear accelerator and heavy water to generate photoneutrons for potential medical therapies. This experimental work focused on creating a short, intense neutron pulse using the Mercury pulsed power machine at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, which fired a Bremsstrahlung photon beam with an energy endpoint of 4.8 MeV. Several independent detector systems were included in the experiment to measure both the characteristics of the x-ray pulse and resulting photoneutrons. We discovered the neutron pulse follows the time history of the x-ray pulse, enabling neutron pulses as short as 30 ns with less than 10% shot-to-shot variation. The approach offers a high-flux of neutrons with a higher end-point energy than using a heavy water converter. Previous experiments at Mercury have generated fission neutrons using a higher x-ray endpoint and 238U(n,f). Results indicate that with an optimized diode and beryllium converter target design, neutron production could be further increased.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1526047},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {11}
}