INITIAL EVALUATION OF A PULSED WHITE SPECTRUM NEUTRON GENERATOR FOR EXPLOSIVE DETECTION

Conference · Mon Jun 02 04:00:00 EDT 2008

OSTI ID:957034

King, Michael J; Miller, Gill T; Reijonen, Jani; Ji, Qing; Andresen, Nord; Gicquel, Frederic; Kavlas, Taneli; Leung, Ka-Ngo; Kwan, Joe

Successful explosive material detection in luggage and similar sized containers is acritical issue in securing the safety of all airline passengers. Tensor Technology Inc. has recently developed a methodology that will detect explosive compounds with pulsed fast neutron transmission spectroscopy. In this scheme, tritium beams will be used to generate neutrons with a broad energy spectrum as governed by the T(t,2n)4He fission reaction that produces 0-9 MeV neutrons. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), in collaboration with Tensor Technology Inc., has designedand fabricated a pulsed white-spectrum neutron source for this application. The specifications of the neutron source are demanding and stringent due to the requirements of high yield and fast pulsing neutron emission, and sealed tube, tritium operation. In a unique co-axial geometry, the ion source uses ten parallel rf induction antennas to externally couple power into a toroidal discharge chamber. There are 20 ion beam extraction slits and 3 concentric electrode rings to shape and accelerate the ion beam into a titanium cone target. Fast neutron pulses are created by using a set ofparallel-plate deflectors switching between +-1500 volts and deflecting the ion beams across a narrow slit. The generator is expected to achieve 5 ns neutron pulses at tritium ion beam energies between 80 - 120 kV. First experiments demonstrated ion source operation and successful beam pulsing.

• Research Organization: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: Accelerator& Fusion Research Division
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 957034
• Report Number(s): LBNL-1074E
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ANTENNAS
CONES
CONTAINERS
DETECTION
ELECTRODES
EXPLOSIVES
FAST NEUTRONS
FISSION
GEOMETRY
INDUCTION
ION BEAMS
ION SOURCES
NEUTRON EMISSION
NEUTRON GENERATORS
NEUTRON SOURCES
NEUTRONS
RADIATIONS
SPECIFICATIONS
SPECTROSCOPY
TITANIUM
TRITIUM
TRITIUM IONS
neutron generator
explosive detection
containers
Tensor