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Title: Development of a lithium fluoride zinc sulfide based neutron multiplicity counter

Abstract

Here, the feasibility of a full-scale lithium fluoride zinc sulfide (LiF/ZnS) based neutron multiplicity counter has been demonstrated. The counter was constructed of modular neutron detecting stacks that each contain five sheets of LiF/ZnS interleaved between six sheets of wavelength shifting plastic with a photomultiplier tube on each end. Twelve such detector stacks were placed around a sample chamber in a square arrangement with lithiated high-density polyethylene blocks in the corners to reflect high-energy neutrons and capture low-energy neutrons. The final system design was optimized via modeling and small-scale test. Measuring neutrons from a 252Cf source, the counter achieved a 36% neutron detection efficiency (ϵϵ) and an View the MathML source11.7μs neutron die-away time (ττ) for a doubles figure-of-merit (ϵ2/τ) of 109. This is the highest doubles figure-of-merit measured to-date for a 3He-free neutron multiplicity counter.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [5];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
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  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. New Mexico Univ. Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  4. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  5. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1418020
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1548810
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
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: 887; Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; LiF/ZnS; Neutron multiplicity counter; Neutron coincidence counter; 3He-free

Citation Formats

Cowles, Christian, Behling, Spencer, Baldez, Phoenix, Folsom, Micah, Kouzes, Richard, Kukharev, Vladislav, Lintereur, Azaree, Robinson, Sean, Siciliano, Edward, Stave, Sean, and Valdez, Patrick. Development of a lithium fluoride zinc sulfide based neutron multiplicity counter. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2018.01.015.
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Cowles, Christian, Behling, Spencer, Baldez, Phoenix, Folsom, Micah, Kouzes, Richard, Kukharev, Vladislav, Lintereur, Azaree, Robinson, Sean, Siciliano, Edward, Stave, Sean, & Valdez, Patrick. Development of a lithium fluoride zinc sulfide based neutron multiplicity counter. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.01.015
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Cowles, Christian, Behling, Spencer, Baldez, Phoenix, Folsom, Micah, Kouzes, Richard, Kukharev, Vladislav, Lintereur, Azaree, Robinson, Sean, Siciliano, Edward, Stave, Sean, and Valdez, Patrick. Fri . "Development of a lithium fluoride zinc sulfide based neutron multiplicity counter". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.01.015. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1418020.
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@article{osti_1418020,
title = {Development of a lithium fluoride zinc sulfide based neutron multiplicity counter},
author = {Cowles, Christian and Behling, Spencer and Baldez, Phoenix and Folsom, Micah and Kouzes, Richard and Kukharev, Vladislav and Lintereur, Azaree and Robinson, Sean and Siciliano, Edward and Stave, Sean and Valdez, Patrick},
abstractNote = {Here, the feasibility of a full-scale lithium fluoride zinc sulfide (LiF/ZnS) based neutron multiplicity counter has been demonstrated. The counter was constructed of modular neutron detecting stacks that each contain five sheets of LiF/ZnS interleaved between six sheets of wavelength shifting plastic with a photomultiplier tube on each end. Twelve such detector stacks were placed around a sample chamber in a square arrangement with lithiated high-density polyethylene blocks in the corners to reflect high-energy neutrons and capture low-energy neutrons. The final system design was optimized via modeling and small-scale test. Measuring neutrons from a 252Cf source, the counter achieved a 36% neutron detection efficiency (ϵϵ) and an View the MathML source11.7μs neutron die-away time (ττ) for a doubles figure-of-merit (ϵ2/τ) of 109. This is the highest doubles figure-of-merit measured to-date for a 3He-free neutron multiplicity counter.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nima.2018.01.015},
journal = {Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment},
number = ,
volume = 887,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 12 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Fri Jan 12 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.01.015
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Cited by: 5 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: A to-scale schematic of a horizontal slice through the center of the detector. The aluminum panel boxes where designed to accommodate up to four detector stacks. The asbuilt detector report in this work has only three detector stacks per panel as shown in the figure.
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Works referenced in this record:

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  • DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2017.2667407

Initial MCNP6 Release Overview - MCNP6 version 1.0
report, June 2013

Neutron coincidence counting with digital signal processing
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  • Bagi, Janos; Dechamp, Luc; Dransart, Pascal
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 608, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2009.07.029

A water-based neutron detector as a well multiplicity counter
journal, January 2015

  • Dazeley, S.; Asghari, A.; Bernstein, A.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 771
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2014.10.028
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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Figure 1 (p. 5)figure
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      Figure 3 (p. 9)figure
      Table 1 (p. 11)table
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