Neutron Radiography and Fission Mapping Measurements of Nuclear Materials with Varying Composition and Shielding
Neutron radiography and fission mapping measurements were performed on four measurement objects with varying composition and shielding arrangements at the Idaho National Laboratory's Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR) facility. The measurement objects were assembled with ZPPR reactor plate materials comprising plutonium, natural uranium, or highly enriched uranium and were presented as unknowns for characterization. As a part of the characterization, neutron radiography was performed using a deuterium-tritium (D-T) neutron generator as a source of time and directionally tagged 14 MeV neutrons. The neutrons were detected by plastic scintillators placed on the opposite side of the object, using the time-correlation-based data acquisition of the Nuclear Materials Identification System developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Each object was measured at several rotations with respect to the neutron source to obtain a tomographic reconstruction of the object and a limited identification of materials via measurement of the neutron attenuation. Large area liquid scintillators with pulse shape discrimination were used to detect the induced fission neutrons. A fission site map reconstruction was produced by time correlating the induced fission neutrons with each tagged neutron from the D-T neutron generator. This paper describes the experimental configuration, the ZPPR measurement objects used, and the neutron imaging and fission mapping results.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1035531
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: INMM 52nd Annual Meeting, Desert Palm, CA (United States), 17-21 Jul 2011
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ATTENUATION
CONFIGURATION
DATA ACQUISITION
FISSION
FISSION NEUTRONS
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
LIQUID SCINTILLATORS
NATURAL URANIUM
NEUTRON GENERATORS
NEUTRON RADIOGRAPHY
NEUTRON SOURCES
NEUTRONS
PHYSICS
PLASTIC SCINTILLATORS
PLUTONIUM
SHIELDING
ZPPR REACTOR
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR)
Measurement
Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) Neutron Generator
Directionally Tagged 14 MeV Neutrons
Materials Identification
Experimental Configuration
ZPPR Measurement Objects
Neutron Imaging
Fission Mapping
Results