• 분석과학
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• 제6권5호
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• pp.501-508
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• 1993

$^{241}Am-Be$(${\alpha}$, n) 중성자 선원의 중성자/감마선(n/${\gamma}$) 복합 방사선장에서 $^6Li$(n, ${\alpha}$)T 핵반응을 이용하고 두 섬광체, BC 501($C_8H_{10}$)과 Cerium의 섬광 감쇠 시간차와 동일 섬광체 내에서의 n/${\gamma}$에 대한 서로 다른 섬광감쇠 시간차를 병용하여 PSD(Pulse Shape Disciminator) 및 CFD(Constant Fraction Discriminator) 방법으로 n와 ${\gamma}$성분을 분리 측정하였으며 $^6Li$ 속중성자 분광계의 figure of merit는 1.36으로 평가되었다.

• 분석과학
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.57-61
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• 1992

중성자 스펙트럼을 측정하기 위해 $^6Li$ 중성자 분광계를 설치하고 $^{137}Cs$과 $^{207}Bi$ 점선원을 사용하여 $^6Li$ 검출관의 특성을 파악하고 $^{241}Am-Be$ 중성자 선원을 사용하여 중성자 포획피이크를 측정하였으며, $^6Li$ (n, ${\alpha}$) T 반응에 의한 에너지 파고스펙트럼을 측정하였다. 또한 중성자 선원의 조사 시간의 변화, 선원과 검출관 사이의 거리의 변화, 파고분석기의 문턱조절자를 미세하게 변환시키는 경우에 파고스펙트럼을 측정하였다.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제18권2_spc호
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• pp.227-235
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• 2020

우리는 실험과 MCNP 시뮬레이션을 통해 전알파 분석법의 한계를 설명하였다. 국내에서 중·저준위 방사성폐기물 인도 규정 관련, 전알파 분석법은 방사성폐기물을 처분하기 위해 반드시 규명해야 할 방사성 특성평가 인자이다. 전알파 분석법은 시료 준비 절차가 간단하고 신속한 분석 결과를 제공하지만, 정량분석 인자로 사용하는 것은 적절하지 않다. KCl과 ²⁴¹Am을 이용하여 시편 건조고형물 무게에 따른 전알파 계측효율을 평가하였다. 동일한 무게의 시편일지라도 계측효율의 차이가 20% 나는 것을 확인하였고, 이는 시편의 물리적 형태가 서로 다르기 때문인 것으로 보인다. 토양 중 우라늄을 화학분리 한 후, ICP-MS로 우라늄을 직접 측정한 결과와 전알파 농도를 비교하였다. 전알파는 실제 우라늄 농도에 비해 50% 과소평가되었다. 알파핵종별 전알파 계측효율이 최대 3배 차이 나기 때문에, 전알파 분석결과는 개별 알파핵종의 합과 비교하기 보다는 스크리닝 개념으로 사용하는 것이 적절하다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권3호
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• pp.432-438
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• 2018

The occurrence of saturation in the CR-39 detector reduces and limits its detection dynamic range; nevertheless, this range could be extended using spectroscopic techniques and by measuring the net bulk rate of the saturated CR-39 detector surface. CR-39 detectors were irradiated by 1.5 MeV high alpha-particle fluence varying from $0.06{\times}10^8$ to $7.36{\times}10^8\;alphas/cm^2$ from Am-241 source; thereafter, they were etched in a 6.25N NaOH solution at a temperature of $70^{\circ}C$ for different durations. Net bulk etch rate measurement of the 1.5 MeV alpha-irradiated CR-39 detector surface revealed that rate increases with increasing etching time and reaches its maximum value at the end of the alpha-particle range. It is also correlated with the alpha-particle fluence. The measurements of UV-Visible (UV-Vis) absorbance at 500 and 600 nm reveal that the absorbance is linearly correlated with the fluence of alpha particles at the etching times of 2 and 4 hour. For extended etching times of 6, 10, and 14.5 hour, the absorbance is saturated for fluence values of $4.05{\times}10^8$, $5.30{\times}10^8$, and $7.36{\times}10^8\;alphas/cm^2$. These new methods pave the way to extend the dynamic range of polymer-based solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) in measurement of high fluence of heavy ions as well as in radiation dosimetry.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권9호
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• pp.3925-3932
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• 2024

During outages at nuclear power plants, much more care for radiation workers against internal exposure should be ensured given that more hot particles exist relative to the amount during normal operation. If fuel-type hot particles (FTHP) are inhaled, they can cause more severe health risks compared to activation-type hot particles (ATHP), which contain ⁶⁰Co, due to the alpha-emitting nuclides within FTHPs. The activities of difficult-to-measure nuclides within FTHPs inhaled by workers are inferred by the age-dating technique using a¹⁴¹Ce/¹⁴⁴Ce ratio as measured by whole-body counters. However, this method may be limited to outages that last for only a few months due to the short half-life (32.5 days) of ¹⁴¹Ce. We studied the feasibility of utilizing ²⁴¹Am, a nuclide with a long half-life of 432.6 years, as an alternative to ¹⁴¹Ce. Additionally, we improved the performance of a stand-type whole-body counter for low-energy gamma spectroscopy to meet the criterion (RMSE ≤0.25) specified in ANSI/HPS N13.30-2011 by employing an artificial neural network (ANN). This study can contribute to more rapid and accurate internal dose assessments for workers who have inhaled FTHPs during long-term outages at nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권11호
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• pp.3784-3789
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• 2021

We report a simple technique for direct neutron spectroscopy using pure LaCl₃ crystals. Pure LaCl₃ crystals exhibit considerably better pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities with relatively good energy resolution as compared with Ce-doped LaCl₃ crystals. Single crystals of pure and Ce-doped LaCl₃ were grown using an inhouse-developed Bridgman furnace. PSD capabilities of these crystals were investigated using ²⁴¹Am and ¹³⁷Cs sources. Fast neutron detection was tested using a²⁵²Cf source and three separate bands corresponding to electron, proton, and alpha were observed. The proton band induced by the ³⁵Cl(n,p)³⁵S reaction can be used for direct neutron spectroscopy because proton energy is proportional to incident neutron energy. Owing to good scintillation performance and excellent PSD capabilities, pure LaCl₃ is a promising candidate for space detectors and other applications that necessitate gamma/fast neutron discrimination capability.