A dual neutron/gamma source for the Fissmat Inspection for Nuclear Detection (FIND) system.

Doyle, Barney Lee (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM) ; King, Michael ; Rossi, Paolo (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM) ; McDaniel, Floyd Del (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM) ; Morse, Daniel Henry ; Antolak, Arlyn J. ; Pr

关键词: DETECTION;    FISSION;    HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM;    NEUTRONS;    NUCLEAR REACTIONS;    PERFORMANCE;    PHOTONS;    SHIELDING;    TESTING Nuclear materials-Analysis.;    Nuclear materials-Security measures.;    Nuclear materials-Identification.;    Special Nuclear materials (SNM);   

DOI  :  10.2172/946576
RP-ID  :  SAND2008-7934
PID  :  OSTI ID: 946576
Others  :  TRN: US0901160

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Shielded special nuclear material (SNM) is very difficult to detect and new technologies are needed to clear alarms and verify the presence of SNM. High-energy photons and neutrons can be used to actively interrogate for heavily shielded SNM, such as highly enriched uranium (HEU), since neutrons can penetrate gamma-ray shielding and gamma-rays can penetrate neutron shielding. Both source particles then induce unique detectable signals from fission. In this LDRD, we explored a new type of interrogation source that uses low-energy proton- or deuteron-induced nuclear reactions to generate high fluxes of mono-energetic gammas or neutrons. Accelerator-based experiments, computational studies, and prototype source tests were performed to obtain a better understanding of (1) the flux requirements, (2) fission-induced signals, background, and interferences, and (3) operational performance of the source. The results of this research led to the development and testing of an axial-type gamma tube source and the design/construction of a high power coaxial-type gamma generator based on the {sup 11}B(p,{gamma}){sup 12}C nuclear reaction.