Neutron detection in mixed short-pulsed fields with intense photon flashes for LINAC-based active interrogation applications - CEA - Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Année : 2024

Neutron detection in mixed short-pulsed fields with intense photon flashes for LINAC-based active interrogation applications

Résumé

High-energy photon interrogation has established itself as a valuable tool for detecting special nuclear materials and characterizing nuclear waste. Previous research predominantly uses around 9-MV linear electron accelerators (LINACs) as photon sources and limited exploration has been conducted on the use of organic scintillators to determine the energy deposited in the detector and to separate photon and neutron radiation, crucial when the photon interrogation is based on the measurement of the neutron emission. The challenge arises from the intense photon flux typically produced by electron accelerators, resulting in issues such as pulse pile-up, detector saturation, and a suboptimal signal-to-background ratio. This study aims to extend the applicability of the conventional Active Photon Interrogation (API) techniques by introducing a novel method enabling the detection, in addition to nuclear materials, of light elements—specifically nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon—known to be present in conventional explosives, narcotics, and chemical weapons. The approach relies on active photon interrogation at high energies above 12 MeV, coupled with photoneutron spectrometry. Using a 22-MV electron LINAC, pulse shape discrimination with an organic liquid scintillator demonstrated promising performance. Our results highlight that the conventional pulse shape discrimination capabilities and rapid time-scale operation of organic scintillators enable the detection of fast neutrons from (γ,Xn) reactions, even in a mixed short-pulsed field of photon and neutron radiation with intense photon flashes. This exploration of the initial experimental aspects of photoneutron detection induced by high-energy photons establishes a foundation for a promising new method for the detection of illicit materials.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Neutron_PSD-vf.pdf (1.32 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

cea-04647658 , version 1 (15-07-2024)

Identifiants

Citer

Clément Besnard Vauterin, Benjamin Rapp, Valentin Blideanu. Neutron detection in mixed short-pulsed fields with intense photon flashes for LINAC-based active interrogation applications. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2024, 1064, pp.169403. ⟨10.1016/j.nima.2024.169403⟩. ⟨cea-04647658⟩
0 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Mastodon Facebook X LinkedIn More