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Title: Improved fission neutron energy discrimination with 4He detectors through pulse filtering

Abstract

Our paper presents experimental and computational techniques implemented for 4He gas scintillation detectorsfor inducedfission neutron detection. Fission neutrons are produced when natural uranium samples are activelyinterrogated by 2.45 MeV deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction neutrons. Fission neutrons of energies greaterthan 2.45 MeV can be distinguished by their different scintillation pulse height spectra since 4He detectorsretain incident fast neutron energy information. To enable the preferential detection of fast neutrons up to10 MeV and suppress low-energy event counts, the detector photomultiplier gain is lowered and triggerthreshold is increased. Pile-up and other unreliable events due to the interrogating neutronflux and backgroundradiation arefiltered out prior to the evaluation of pulse height spectra. With these problem-specific calibrationsand data processing, the 4He detector's accuracy at discriminatingfission neutrons up to 10 MeV is improvedand verified with 252Cf spontaneousfission neutrons. Given the 4He detector's ability to differentiate fastneutron sources, this proof-of-concept active-interrogation measurement demonstrates the potential of specialnuclear materials detection using a 4He fast neutron detection system.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
  2. Arktis Radiation Detection Ltd., Zurich (Switzerland)
  3. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  4. Korean Inst. for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control, Daejeon (South Korea)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
OSTI Identifier:
1487100
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1417095
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0002534; 15-8286
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 848; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; helium-4; active interrogation; special nuclear material

Citation Formats

Zhu, Ting, Liang, Yinong, Rolison, Lucas, Barker, Cathleen, Lewis, Jason, Gokhale, Sasmit, Chandra, Rico, Kiff, Scott, Chung, Heejun, Ray, Heather, Baciak, James E., Enqvist, Andreas, and Jordan, Kelly A. Improved fission neutron energy discrimination with 4He detectors through pulse filtering. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2016.12.016.
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Zhu, Ting, Liang, Yinong, Rolison, Lucas, Barker, Cathleen, Lewis, Jason, Gokhale, Sasmit, Chandra, Rico, Kiff, Scott, Chung, Heejun, Ray, Heather, Baciak, James E., Enqvist, Andreas, & Jordan, Kelly A. Improved fission neutron energy discrimination with 4He detectors through pulse filtering. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.12.016
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Zhu, Ting, Liang, Yinong, Rolison, Lucas, Barker, Cathleen, Lewis, Jason, Gokhale, Sasmit, Chandra, Rico, Kiff, Scott, Chung, Heejun, Ray, Heather, Baciak, James E., Enqvist, Andreas, and Jordan, Kelly A. Thu . "Improved fission neutron energy discrimination with 4He detectors through pulse filtering". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.12.016. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1487100.
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@article{osti_1487100,
title = {Improved fission neutron energy discrimination with 4He detectors through pulse filtering},
author = {Zhu, Ting and Liang, Yinong and Rolison, Lucas and Barker, Cathleen and Lewis, Jason and Gokhale, Sasmit and Chandra, Rico and Kiff, Scott and Chung, Heejun and Ray, Heather and Baciak, James E. and Enqvist, Andreas and Jordan, Kelly A.},
abstractNote = {Our paper presents experimental and computational techniques implemented for 4He gas scintillation detectorsfor inducedfission neutron detection. Fission neutrons are produced when natural uranium samples are activelyinterrogated by 2.45 MeV deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction neutrons. Fission neutrons of energies greaterthan 2.45 MeV can be distinguished by their different scintillation pulse height spectra since 4He detectorsretain incident fast neutron energy information. To enable the preferential detection of fast neutrons up to10 MeV and suppress low-energy event counts, the detector photomultiplier gain is lowered and triggerthreshold is increased. Pile-up and other unreliable events due to the interrogating neutronflux and backgroundradiation arefiltered out prior to the evaluation of pulse height spectra. With these problem-specific calibrationsand data processing, the 4He detector's accuracy at discriminatingfission neutrons up to 10 MeV is improvedand verified with 252Cf spontaneousfission neutrons. Given the 4He detector's ability to differentiate fastneutron sources, this proof-of-concept active-interrogation measurement demonstrates the potential of specialnuclear materials detection using a 4He fast neutron detection system.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nima.2016.12.016},
journal = {Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment},
number = C,
volume = 848,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Thu Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.12.016
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Cited by: 8 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: 4He fast neutron detector is manufactured by Arktis Radiation Detector Ltd.
All figures and tables (18 total)
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Works referenced in this record:

Fast neutron detection with pressurized 4 He scintillation detectors
journal, March 2012

Fast neutron detection in homeland security applications
conference, October 2010

  • Chandra, R.; Davatz, G.; Gendotti, U.
  • 2010 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (2010 NSS/MIC), IEEE Nuclear Science Symposuim & Medical Imaging Conference
  • DOI: 10.1109/NSSMIC.2010.5873813

Using fast neutron signatures for improved UF6 cylinder enrichment measurements
report, September 2013

Active Inspection of Nuclear Materials Using [sup 4]He Scintillation Detectors
conference, January 2011

  • Davatz, G.; Chandra, R.; Gendotti, U.
  • APPLICATIONS OF NUCLEAR TECHNIQUES: Eleventh International Conference, AIP Conference Proceedings
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3665333

Analysis of In-Situ Fission Rate Measurements Using $^4{\rm He}$ Gas Scintillation Detectors
journal, August 2014

  • Lewis, Jason M.; Raetz, Dominik; Murer, David
  • IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 61, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2014.2321291

Fission signal detection using helium-4 gas fast neutron scintillation detectors
journal, July 2014

  • Lewis, J. M.; Kelley, R. P.; Murer, D.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4887366

Neutron response function characterization of 4He scintillation detectors
journal, September 2015

  • Kelley, Ryan P.; Rolison, Lucas M.; Lewis, Jason M.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 793
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2015.04.011

Pulse shape discrimination in helium-4 scintillation detectors
journal, September 2016

  • Kelley, Ryan P.; Enqvist, Andreas; Jordan, Kelly A.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 830
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2016.05.065

MCNPX-PoliMi for nuclear nonproliferation applications
journal, December 2012

  • Pozzi, S. A.; Clarke, S. D.; Walsh, W. J.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 694
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2012.07.040

Active detection of small quantities of shielded highly-enriched uranium using low-dose 60-kev neutron interrogation
journal, August 2007

  • Kerr, Phil; Rowland, Mark; Dietrich, Dan
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 261, Issue 1-2
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2007.04.190

Active-interrogation measurements of fast neutrons from induced fission in low-enriched uranium
journal, February 2014

  • Dolan, J. L.; Marcath, M. J.; Flaska, M.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 738
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2013.11.052
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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Figure 1 (p. 2)figure
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      Table 1 (p. 6)table
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