Calibration of Bonner spheres and determination of room-return spectrum

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:7271906

Johnson, T L

The calibration of Bonner spheres or other neutron detectors should ideally be made in vacuum using a parallel beam of monoenergetic neutrons. In practice, these devices are calibrated in air, in an enclosed or partially enclosed cavity, using a point source of neutrons. The source of choice is usually {sup 252}Cf. For this practical situation, corrections to the detector response must be made for air scatter and for scatter from the walls of the calibration cavity. These corrections can be minimized by using a small source-to-detector distance. However, at small source-to-detector distances, the number of neutrons striking the detectors does not follow the inverse square law, and the angular distribution of the neutron changes with distance, necessitating further corrections. In this study, calibrations of a set of Bonner spheres were performed in two small calibration rooms and in a low-scatter, open-air environment. The results of this study show that the determination of the detector response for Bonner spheres is not strongly dependent on the method chosen for correcting for room return, air scatter, and angular dependence.

• OSTI ID: 7271906
• Report Number(s): CONF-911107--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440103* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- Nuclear Spectroscopic Instrumentation
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
AIR
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BONNER SPHERE DETECTORS
CALIBRATION
CALIFORNIUM 252
CALIFORNIUM ISOTOPES
EFFICIENCY
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FLUIDS
GASES
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MODERATING DETECTORS
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NEUTRON FLUENCE
NEUTRON SOURCES
NUCLEI
PARTICLE SOURCES
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIOISOTOPES
SCATTERING
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES