Engineering topics

Wolff, Ronald

Publications and source records attributed to Wolff, Ronald.

3 records

DOE OSTI2015

Neutron multiplicity ,easurements With 3 He alternative: Straw neutron detectors

Counting neutrons emitted by special nuclear material (SNM) and differentiating them from the background neutrons of various origins is the most effective passive means of detecting SNM. Unfortunately, neutron detection, counting, and partitioning in a maritime environment are complex due to the presence of high-multiplicity spallation neutrons (commonly known as “ship effect”) and to the complicated nature of the neutron scattering in that environment. In this study, a prototype neutron detector was built using 10 B as the converter in a special form factor called “straws” that would address the above problems by looking into the details of multiplicity distributions of neutrons originating from a fissioning source. This paper describes the straw neutron multiplicity counter (NMC) and assesses the performance with those of a commercially available fission meter. The prototype straw neutron detector provides a large-area, efficient, lightweight, more granular (than fission meter) neutron-responsive detection surface (to facilitate imaging) to enhance the ease of application of fission meters. Presented here are the results of preliminary investigations, modeling, and engineering considerations leading to the construction of this prototype. This design is capable of multiplicity and Feynman variance measurements. This prototype may lead to a near-term solution to the crisis that has arisen from the global scarcity of 3 He by offering a viable alternative to fission meters. This paper describes the work performed during a 2-year site-directed research and development (SDRD) project that incorporated straw detectors for neutron multiplicity counting. The NMC is a two-panel detector system. We used 10 B (in the form of enriched boron carbide: 10 B 4 C) for neutron detection instead of 3 He. In the first year, the project worked with a panel of straw neutron detectors, investigated its characteristics, and developed a data acquisition (DAQ) system to collect neutron multiplicity information from spontaneous fission sources using a single panel consisting of 60 straws equally distributed over three rows in high-density polyethylene moderator. In the following year, we developed the field-programmable gate array and associated DAQ software. Finally, this SDRD effort successfully produced a prototype NMC with ~33% detection efficiency compared to a commercial fission meter.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2013

Exploitation of Geometric Occlusion and Covariance Spectroscopy in a Gamma Sensor Array

The National Security Technologies, LLC, Remote Sensing Laboratory has recently used an array of six small-footprint (1-inch diameter by 3-inch long) cylindrical crystals of thallium-doped sodium iodide scintillators to obtain angular information from discrete gamma ray–emitting point sources. Obtaining angular information in a near-field measurement for a field-deployed gamma sensor is a requirement for radiological emergency work. Three of the sensors sit at the vertices of a 2-inch isosceles triangle, while the other three sit on the circumference of a 3-inch-radius circle centered in this triangle. This configuration exploits occlusion of sensors, correlation from Compton scattering within a detector array, and covariance spectroscopy, a spectral coincidence technique. Careful placement and orientation of individual detectors with reference to other detectors in an array can provide improved angular resolution for determining the source position by occlusion mechanism. By evaluating the values of, and the uncertainties in, the photopeak areas, efficiencies, branching ratio, peak area correction factors, and the correlations between these quantities, one can determine the precise activity of a particular radioisotope from a mixture of radioisotopes that have overlapping photopeaks that are ordinarily hard to deconvolve. The spectral coincidence technique, often known as covariance spectroscopy, examines the correlations and fluctuations in data that contain valuable information about radiation sources, transport media, and detection systems. Covariance spectroscopy enhances radionuclide identification techniques, provides directional information, and makes weaker gamma-ray emission—normally undetectable by common spectroscopic analysis—detectable. A series of experimental results using the concept of covariance spectroscopy are presented.

occlusion, covariance spectroscopy, correlations, ↗

DOE OSTI2013

Real-Time Active Cosmic Neutron Background Reduction Methods

Neutron counting using large arrays of pressurized 3He proportional counters from an aerial system or in a maritime environment suffers from the background counts from the primary cosmic neutrons and secondary neutrons caused by cosmic ray-induced mechanisms like spallation and charge-exchange reaction. This paper reports the work performed at the Remote Sensing Laboratory–Andrews (RSL-A) and results obtained when using two different methods to reduce the cosmic neutron background in real time. Both methods used shielding materials with a high concentration (up to 30% by weight) of neutron-absorbing materials, such as natural boron, to remove the low-energy neutron flux from the cosmic background as the first step of the background reduction process. Our first method was to design, prototype, and test an up-looking plastic scintillator (BC-400, manufactured by Saint Gobain Corporation) to tag the cosmic neutrons and then create a logic pulse of a fixed time duration (~120 μs) to block the data taken by the neutron counter (pressurized 3He tubes running in a proportional counter mode). The second method examined the time correlation between the arrival of two successive neutron signals to the counting array and calculated the excess of variance (Feynman variance Y2F)1 in the neutron count distribution from Poisson distribution. The dilution of this variance from cosmic background values ideally would signal the presence of man-made neutrons.2 The first method has been technically successful in tagging the neutrons in the cosmic-ray flux and preventing them from being counted in the 3He tube array by electronic veto—field measurement work shows the efficiency of the electronic veto counter to be about 87%. The second method has successfully derived an empirical relationship between the percentile non-cosmic component in a neutron flux and the Y2F of the measured neutron count distribution. By using shielding materials alone, approximately 55% of the neutron flux from man-made sources like 252Cf or Am-Be was removed.

Neutron counting, cosmic background, ship effect, ↗