• 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.263-268
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• 2019

The $^3He$ proportional chamber is widely used for neutron measurement owing to its high neutron detection efficiency and simplicity for gamma-ray rejection. In general, the neutron and gamma-ray signals obtained from the $^3He$ proportional chamber can be easily separated by the difference in the pulse heights. However, for a high gamma-ray field, the gamma-ray signal cannot be precisely eliminated by the pulse height due to gamma-ray pulse pileup which causes the pulse height of gamma-ray pulse to increase and making the pulses due to neutrons and gamma rays indistinguishable. In this study, an improved algorithm for $n/{\gamma}$ discrimination using a parameter, which is the ratio of the rise time to the pulse height, is proposed. The $n/{\gamma}$ discrimination performance of the algorithm is evaluated by applying it to $^{252}Cf$ neutron signal separation from various gamma-ray exposure rate levels ranging 0.1-5 R/h. The performance is compared to that of the conventional pulse-height analysis method in terms of the gamma elimination ratio. The suggested algorithm shows better performance than the conventional one by 1.7% (at 0.1 R/h) to 70% (at 5 R/h) for gamma elimination.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4057-4065
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• 2023

Organic scintillators are widely used for neutron/gamma detection. Pulse shape discrimination algorithms have been commonly used to discriminate the detected radiations. These algorithms have several limits, in particular with plastic scintillator which has lower discrimination ability, compared to liquid scintillator. Recently, machine learning (ML) models have been explored to enhance discrimination performance. Nevertheless, obtaining an accurate ML model or evaluating any discrimination approach requires a reference neutron dataset. The preparation of this is challenging because neutron sources are also gamma-ray emitters. Therefore, this paper proposes a pipeline to prepare clean labeled neutron/gamma datasets acquired by an organic scintillator. The method is mainly based on a Time of Flight setup and Tail-to-Total integral ratio (TTT_ratio) discrimination algorithm. In the presented case, EJ276 plastic scintillator and ²⁵²Cf source were used to implement the acquisition chain. The results showed that this process can identify and remove mislabeled samples in the entire ToF spectrum, including those that contribute to peak values. Furthermore, the process cleans ToF dataset from pile-up events, which can significantly impact experimental results and the conclusions extracted from them.

• 디자인학연구
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.245-252
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• 2005

이 연구는 소설이나 영화의 서사적 시간성을 밝히는데 이론적 토대를 제공해 주고 있는 '제랄드 쥬네트(Gerard Genette)'의 이론을 통해 TV광고의 시간적 서사와 그 의미구조를 살펴보기 위한 시도이다. 광고는 그 광고가 지시하는 상품에 최고, 최대의 교환가치를 부여하기 위해 신화적인 초실재적 기호로 스스로를 변환시키고자 노력한다. 이런 과정에서 TV광고의 서사도 새로운 유혹의 메카니즘으로 보여지도록 서사적 시간의 순서를 뒤집고 뒤섞는다. 그렇게 하는 이유는 어떤 미학적 효과를 얻기 위해서이다. 광고는 상품가치를 극대화하기 위해 미학적 효과를 채용한다. 포스트모더니즘의 영향으로 TV광고는 기호내용보다는 기호표 현 중심으로 한 보여줌의 미학으로 전개됨에 따라 이미지의 과잉 현상을 낳는다. 특별한 미학적 효과를 위해 시간적으로 변형된 TV광고는 새롭고 세련된 화면을 제공하지만 모호한 이미지들로 인해 해석의 불확정성을 낳기도 한다. 하지만 이런 양상은 대중들이 광고메시지를 만드는데 능동적으로 참여하게 하는 여지를 제공해 준다는 점에서 의미가 있다.

• 센서학회지
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.402-407
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• 2009

In this study, plastic optical fiber sensors which can measure thermal neutron dose in a mixed neutron-gamma field are developed and characterized. Using $^{252}Cf$ and $^{60}Co$ sources, the scintillators suitable for thermal neutron detection, are tested and the scintillating lights generated from a plastic optical fiber sensor in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (kuca) core are measured. Also, the distributions of thermal neutron and gamma-ray are measured in a mixed field as a function of the distance from the center of the reactor core at KUCA and the distribution of thermal neutron is obtained using a subtraction method. Sensitivity of the fiber-optic radiation sensor system is about 0.49 V/mW according to power of the KUCA core and its relative error is about 1.2 %.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권6호
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• pp.1964-1969
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• 2021

We developed a Dual-PPACs detector for fast neutron measurements that consists of two sets of PPAC: conventional PPAC and fission PPAC. A²³⁸U(U₃O₈) coating is placed in the fission PPAC's anode, which is used as the neutrons conversion layer. An experiment was performed to measure neutron time-of-flight (TOF) in which ²⁵²Cf spontaneous fission source was used. An excellent time resolution of 164ps has been observed at 6 mbar in isobutene gas. With the excellent time resolution of Dual-PPACs detector, exact neutron energy can be extracted from the timing measurement. The experimental detection efficiency was 1.9 × 10^-7, consistent with the efficiency of 2.5 × 10^-7 given by a Geant4 simulation. Ultimately, the results show that the Dual-PPACs detector is a suitable candidate for measuring fast neutrons in the future CiADS system.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.53-63
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• 2019

Background: As neutron fields are always accompanied by gamma rays, it is essential to distinguish neutrons from gamma rays in the detection of neutrons. Neutrons and gamma rays can be separated by pulse shape discrimination (PSD) methods. Recently, we performed characterization of a stilbene scintillator detector and an EJ-301 liquid scintillator detector with a high-speed digitizer DT5730 and investigated optimized PSD variables for both detectors. This study is for providing a basis for developing fast neutron/gamma-ray dual-particle imager. Materials and Methods: We conducted PSD experiments using stilbene scintillator and EJ-301 liquid scintillator and evaluated neutron and gamma ray discriminability of each PSD method with a $^{137}Cs$ gamma source and a $^{252}Cf$ neutron source. We implemented digital signal processing techniques to apply two PSD methods - the charge comparison (CC) method and the constant time discrimination (CTD) method - to distinguish neutrons from gamma rays. We tried to find optimized PSD variables giving the best discriminability in a given experimental condition. Results and Discussion: For the stilbene scintillator detector, the charge comparison method and the constant time discrimination method both delivered the PSD FOM values of 1.7. For the EJ-301 liquid scintillator detector, both PSD methods delivered the PSD FOM values of 1.79. With the same PSD variables, PSD performance was excellent in $300{\pm}100keVee$, $500{\pm}100keVee$, and $700{\pm}100keVee$ energy regions. This result shows that we can achieve an effective discrimination of neutrons from gamma rays using these scintillator detector systems. Conclusion: We applied both PSD methods to a stilbene and a liquid scintillator and optimized the PSD performance represented by FOM values. We observed a good separation performance of both scintillators combined with a high-speed digitizer and digital PSD. These results will provide reference values for the dual-particle imager we are developing, which can image both fast neutrons and gamma rays simultaneously.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권8호
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• pp.2723-2733
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• 2023

Transuranic nuclides (such as ²³⁸Pu, ²⁵²Cf, ²⁴⁹Bk, etc.) have a wide range of application in industry, medicine, agriculture, and other fields. However, due to the complex conversion chain and remarkable fission losses in the process of transuranic nuclides production, the generation amounts are extremely low. High flux reactor with high neutron flux and flexible irradiation channels, is regarded as the promising candidate for producing transuranic nuclides. It is of great significance to increase the conversion ratio of transuranic nuclides, resulting in higher efficiency and better economy. In this paper, we perform an optimization design evaluation of producing transuranic nuclides in high flux reactor, which includes optimization design of irradiation target and influence study of reactor core loading. It is demonstrated that the production rate increases with appropriately determined target material and target structure. The target loading scheme in the irradiation channel also has a significant influence on the production of transuranic nuclides.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.97-104
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• 2004

NIPS 시스템은 중성자 핵반응 결과 방출되는 즉발 감마선을 정량적으로 측정하는 장치이며 고체 및 액체 폐기물 중 존재하는 다양한 원소를 비파괴적으로 분석할 수 있는 장점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 NIPS 시스템에 이용된 고순도반도체 검출기의 계측효율을 $^{l33}$Ba 및 $^{152}$Eu 방사성 동위원소 선원과 $^{35}$ Cl(n, ${\gamma}$)$^{36}$ Cl 핵반응 시 발생되는 즉발감마선을 이용하여 80 keV에서 8 MeV까지 넓은 영역에 대하여 구하였다. $^{35}$ Cl(n, ${\gamma}$)$^{36}$ Cl 핵반응을 이용한 고에너지 감마선의 계측효율은 즉발감마선의 방사능 값을 정확히 알 수 없기 때문에 저 에너지 영역에서 정확히 알고 있는 검출기 효율곡선에 규격화시켜 전 에너지 영역에서의 효율보정곡선을 구하였다. 또한 KCl 표준용액에 $^{252}$ Cf 중성자 선원을 조사시켜 표준용액으로부터 방출되는 즉발 감마선을 고순도반도체 검출기로 측정하고 광대역 계측효율 곡선을 이용하여 수용액 시료에서의 평균 열중성자 속을 예측하였다. NIPS 측정시스템은 주변 재료 물질의 핵반응으로 방출되는 감마선 background를 줄이기 위해 두 개의 고순도반도체 검출기를 이용한 동시계수 장치가 고안되었으며, 동시계수 모드에서의 계측효율도 함께 고려되었으며, 표준선원을 이용하여 전 계수 또는 동시계수모드에서의 background에 대한 측정감도를 비교하였다.다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.35-40
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• 2012

국내 교정기관 또는 표준기관은 중성자 검출기의 교정을 위해 비감속 및 중수감속 $^{252}Cf$ 선원과 $^{241}AmBe$ 선원을 사용하고 있다. 이런 선원들로 교정된 중성자 검출기를 이용하여 입자가속기와 같이 속중성자가 다량 존재하는 시설을 선량평가할 때, 그 정확도가 떨어지게 된다. 그 이유는, 대부분의 중성자 검출기는 열중성자에 민감하게 반응하므로 수 MeV 이상의 에너지를 가지는 속중성자장에 대한 선량당량 반응도는 부정확하다. 또한 높은 에너지의 중성자는 열중성자보다 선량기여정도가 훨씬 크기 때문이다. 이와 같은 이유로, 기존의 교정용 기준 중성자장이 아닌 수 MeV 이상의 속중성자가 존재하는 중성자장에서도 검출기를 교정할 필요가 있다. DT 중성자 발생기, 흑연집합체 그리고 폴리에틸렌 중성자 집속체를 사용하여 속중성자의 선속분율이 서로 다른 중성자장을 제작하였고, 이 중성자장에서 중성자 검출기의 선량당량 반응도를 측정하였다. 시험결과에 의하면, 속중성자 선속분율과 중성자 검출기의 종류에 따라 중성자 검출기의 반응도는 많은 차이를 보였다. 이러한 반응도 차이는 선량당량의 과대 및 과소평가를 의미하므로, 검출기가 사용되는 시설환경과 유사한 중성자장에서 반응도 교정이 필요함을 확인하였다.