Spectrum determination and modification of the AFRL Co-60 cell
- Air Force Research Lab., Kirtland AFB, NM (United States)
The AFRL Co-60 cell at Phillips Research Site, Kirtland Air Force Base, is a 1500 ft{sup 2} concrete room with a 5200 Ci, as of 18 December 1996, J.L. Shepherd Co-60 source. The source provides high dose rate ionizing radiation up to 12000 rad(Si)/min. The Co-60 cell is used to characterize total-dose gamma effects of microelectronic and photonic devices, circuits, and subsystems. The spectrum of a Co-60 facility includes more than the two photopeaks of gamma ray emission. If there is a large low energy contribution from scattering, dose enhancement might be a problem. It is important to know the spectrum of a Co-60 facility and understand how experimental modifications can change that spectrum. The AFRL Co-60 cell spectrum is found to be a clean spectrum with small low energy contributions and dominant Co-60 photopeaks. Experimental modifications to reduce dose enhancement such as the use of a Pb/Al box and even better a Pb/Sn/Cu/Al box are found to decrease the low energy contributions. Experimental modifications to reduce dose rate such as using lead attenuators in front of the experiment and/or raising the source partially are found to significantly alter the spectrum, sometimes creating large low energy contributions.
- OSTI ID:
- 323951
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-980705-; ISSN 0018-9499; TRN: 99:004471
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 45, Issue 6Pt1; Conference: IEEE nuclear and space radiation effects conference, Newport Beach, CA (United States), 20-24 Jul 1998; Other Information: PBD: Dec 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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