Epithermal Neutron Resonance Analysis Using a Compact D-T Generator

Technical Report · Mon Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1637917· OSTI ID:1637917

Klein, E. Avram ^[1]; Danagoulian, Areg ^[1]

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1. Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Nuclear material identification and isotopic composition analysis are important capabilities for safeguards and the verification of nuclear arms control and nonproliferation treaties. Epithermal neutron resonance imaging has been proposed for spent fuel assay measurements, and the development of a mobile neutron imaging system could provide such a tool for on-site applications. This technique is highly sensitive to isotopes of interest for safeguards applications (e.g. ^235,238U, ^238,239,240Pu) and yields unique transmission spectra for a target containing actinides and some mid- and high-Z elements. Paired with a position-sensitive neutron detector, such a system could provide spatial information of the target isotopic composition. Recent progress in the development of high intensity neutron sources could make mobile epithermal neutron imaging designs increasingly feasible to serve as a tool for nuclear inspectors. In this work, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were performed to further optimize a previous design for an epithermal neutron resonance-based analysis apparatus using a D-T portable neutron generator. Additionally, experimental work is being performed to test the feasibility of this method. The MC simulations of moderation time distributions for different moderator compositions and thicknesses were measured to provide a multi-group correction for neutron time-of-flight energy reconstruction.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River National Lab (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-08SR22470
• OSTI ID: 1637917
• Report Number(s): SRNL-STI--2020-00245
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY