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Title: Neutron Imaging at LANSCE—From Cold to Ultrafast

Journal Article · · Journal of Imaging
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  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA (United States)
  4. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); National Science Foundation, Alexandria, VA (United States)
  5. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  6. Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  7. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States)
  8. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

In recent years, neutron radiography and tomography have been applied at different beam lines at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), covering a very wide neutron energy range. The field of energy-resolved neutron imaging with epi-thermal neutrons, utilizing neutron absorption resonances for contrast as well as quantitative density measurements, was pioneered at the Target 1 (Lujan center), Flight Path 5 beam line and continues to be refined. Applications include: imaging of metallic and ceramic nuclear fuels, fission gas measurements, tomography of fossils and studies of dopants in scintillators. The technique provides the ability to characterize materials opaque to thermal neutrons and to utilize neutron resonance analysis codes to quantify isotopes to within 0.1 atom %. The latter also allows measuring fuel enrichment levels or the pressure of fission gas remotely. More recently, the cold neutron spectrum at the ASTERIX beam line, also located at Target 1, was used to demonstrate phase contrast imaging with pulsed neutrons. This extends the capabilities for imaging of thin and transparent materials at LANSCE. In contrast, high-energy neutron imaging at LANSCE, using unmoderated fast spallation neutrons from Target 4 [Weapons Neutron Research (WNR) facility] has been developed for applications in imaging of dense, thick objects. Using fast (ns), time-of-flight imaging, enables testing and developing imaging at specific, selected MeV neutron energies. The 4FP-60R beam line has been reconfigured with increased shielding and new, larger collimation dedicated to fast neutron imaging. The exploration of ways in which pulsed neutron beams and the time-of-flight method can provide additional benefits is continuing. We will describe the facilities and instruments, present application examples and recent results of all these efforts at LANSCE.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1427385
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-30960; TRN: US1802590
Journal Information:
Journal of Imaging, Vol. 4, Issue 3; ISSN 2313-433X
Publisher:
MDPICopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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