• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제52권9호
• /
• pp.2072-2077
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of sensing changes in a tumor during boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) using a Monte Carlo simulation tool. In the simulation, an epi-thermal neutron source and a water phantom including boron uptake regions (BURs) were simulated. Moreover, this simulation also included a detector for positron emission tomography (PET) scanning and an adaptively-designed collimator (ADC) for PET. After the PET scanning of the water phantom, including the 511 keV source in the BUR, the ADC was positioned in the PET's gantry. Single prompt gamma rays were collected through the ADC during neutron irradiation. Then, single prompt gamma ray-based tomography images of different sized tumors were acquired by a four-step process. Both the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and tumor size were analyzed from each step image. From this analysis, we identified a decreasing trend of both the SNR and signal intensity as the tumor size decreased, which was confirmed in all images. In conclusion, we confirmed the feasibility of sensing changes in a tumor during BNCT using PET and an ADC through Monte Carlo simulation.

• 한국정보통신학회논문지
• /
• 제20권12호
• /
• pp.2410-2416
• /
• 2016

전 세계적으로 비핵화를 추구하고 있으나 북한의 계속되는 핵실험 등으로 핵폭에 대한 관심이 지속적으로 증가하고 있다. 핵 폭발 또는 우주환경에서의 발생되는 펄스형 감마선은 매우 짧은 시간동안 고에너지를 전달하기에 전자소자에 큰 피해를 줄 수 있다. 이러한 전자소자의 피해정도를 확인하기 위한 연구를 수행하려면 핵폭 또는 우주환경에서 발생할 수 있는 펄스형 감마선 조사시설이 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 펄스형 감마선 탐지 장치을 개발하고, 감마선 변환장치를 통해 펄스형 감마선을 생성한 후 그 출력을 분석하였다. 핵폭과 유사한 조건을 갖추기 위하여 포항가속기 연구시설의 전자빔가속장치를 이용하여 출력을 실험하였고, 그 결과 감마선 변환장치와 전지빔을 통해 생성한 펄스형 감마선의 방출과 그 출력특성을 확인하였다. 본 논문의 결과는 펄스감마선을 이용해야 하는 연구의 안정성과 정확성을 향상시키는데 기여할 것이다.

• 대한방사선기술학회지:방사선기술과학
• /
• 제36권2호
• /
• pp.165-173
• /
• 2013

본 연구는 몬테카를로 시뮬레이션을 이용하여 양성자 빔을 피사체에 조사했을 때 발생되는 양성자, 즉발감마선 그리고 양성자 유발 중성자의 3차원적 공간분포를 polymer gel 선량계를 통해 구하고, 이를 물 팬텀에서 조사한 결과와 비교하여 3차원적 선량 분포의 정확성에 대해 알아보고자 한다. 본 연구에서 사용 된 polymer gel 선량계는 Gelatin, Methacrylic acid, Hydroquinone, Tetrakis 그리고 증류수로 이루어진 혼합물로 그 밀도는 $1.04g/cm^3$으로 물의 밀도인 $0.9998g/cm^3$과 유사하다. 본 시뮬레이션에서는 72 MeV, 116 MeV, 140 MeV 의 양성자 빔이 사용되었다. 양성자 빔은 팬텀의 핵과 반응을 하고 양성자 빔으로 인해 여기된 핵이 다시 안정하게 되기 위해 즉발감마선 그리고 양성자 유발 중성자를 방출한다. 양성자와 즉발감마선 그리고 양성자 유발 중성자는 polymer gel 선량계와 물 팬텀에서 각각 검출하였다. 3차원적 선량 분포를 얻기 위한 검출 간격은 2 mm로 하여 선량 분포를 획득하였다. Polymer gel 선량계에서의 양성자의 Bragg-peak를 구해 본 결과 Bragg-peak 지점이 물 팬텀에서의 경우와 유사하게 나타남을 확인 할 수 있었다. 72 MeV, 116 MeV, 그리고 140 MeV의 양성자 빔을 polymer gel 그리고 물 팬텀에 조사했을 때 그 내부에서의 양성자 그리고 즉발감마선의 선량 분포는 polymer gel, 물 팬텀 각각 유사한 선량분포를 가짐을 감마 인덱스 평가로 확인 할 수 있었다. 하지만 양성자 유발 중성자의 경우 물 팬텀에서는 검출이 된 반면 polymer gel 선량계에서는 검출이 되지 않았다. Polymer Gel 선량계는 3차원적 선량 분포를 얻는데 유용한 선량계이지만 양성자 조사 시 그 유발 중성자의 검출에는 한계를 보임을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제53권3호
• /
• pp.942-948
• /
• 2021

The aim of this work is to help inform the decision for choosing a convenient material for the PGAA (Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis) collimator plug to be installed at the tangential channel of the Moroccan Triga Mark II Research Reactor. Two families of materials are usually used for collimator construction: a mixture of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with boron, which is commonly used to moderate and absorb neutrons, and heavy materials, either for gamma absorption or for fast neutron absorption. An investigation of two different collimator designs was performed using N-Particle Monte Carlo MCNP6.2 code with the ENDF/B-VII.1 and MCLIP84 libraries. For each design, carbon steel and lead materials were used separately as collimator heavy materials. The performed study focused on both the impact on neutron beam quality and the neutron-gamma background at the exit of the collimator beam tube. An analysis and assessment of the principal findings is presented in this paper, as well as recommendations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제55권11호
• /
• pp.4002-4018
• /
• 2023

An integrated neutron interrogation system has been developed for non-destructive assay of highly-radioactive special nuclear materials, to accumulate knowledge of the method through developing and using it. The system combines a differential die-away (DDA) measurement system for the quantification of nuclear materials and a prompt gamma-ray analysis (PGA) system for the detection of neutron poisons which disturb the DDA measurements; a common D-T neutron generator is used. A special care has been taken for the selection of materials to reduce the background gamma rays produced by the interrogation neutrons. A series of measurements were performed to test the basic performance of the system. The results show that the DDA system can quantify plutonium of as small as 20 mg and it is not affected by intense neutron background up to 1.57 × 10⁷ s^-1 and gamma ray of 4.43 × 10¹⁰ s^-1. The gamma-ray background counting rate at the PGA detector was reduced down to 3.9 × 10³ s^-1 even with the use of the D-T neutron generator. The test measurements show that the PGA system is capable of detecting 0.783 g of boron and about 86.8 g of gadolinium in 30 min.

• 분석과학
• /
• 제16권5호
• /
• pp.1041-1051
• /
• 2003

즉발감마선 중성자방사화법 (PGAA)은 시료내 미량 및 주원소를 빠르게 비파괴적으로 분석하는 방법으로 주로 광물, 금속, 석탄, 시멘트, 석유, 코팅, 제지 등 다양한 산업체에서 실시간 분석법으로 매우 유용하다. 이 방법은 제약과 관련된 산업체 또는 연구업무에도 활용되며, 마약 또는 폭발물과 같은 위험물질의 탐지에도 이용되고 있다. 본 총설은 즉발감마선 중성자 방사화법의 현재의 기술현황과 앞으로 연구추진 경향에 대하여 서술하였다. PGAA 시스템은 중성자 선원, 증성자 핵반응으로부터 발생하는 즉발감마선을 측정하기위한 다중채널분석기와 A/D 변환기 등의 전자모듈과 고분해능 HPGe 검출기로 구성된다. 속중성자의 콤프턴 산란에 의한 높은 바탕값은 감마-감마 동시계수장치의 도입으로 개선될 수 있다. 현재 $^{252}Cf$를 사용한 즉발감마선 중성자 방사화 장치는 수용액중에 존재하는 원소들의 실시간분석을 위해 한국원자력연구소에서 개발중에 있다. 이 장치는 다양한 마약 및 폭발물 또는 화학무기의 탐지에도 응용될 수 있다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제52권11호
• /
• pp.2572-2580
• /
• 2020

Emerging gamma ray detection applications that utilize neutron-based interrogation result in the prompt emission of high-energy (>2 MeV) gamma-rays. Rapid imaging is enabled by scintillators that possess high density, high atomic number, and excellent energy resolution. In this paper, we evaluate the bright (50,000 photons/MeV) oxide scintillator, cerium-doped Gd₂Al₂Ga₃O₁₂ (GAGG(Ce)). A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) array is coupled to a GAGG(Ce) scintillator array (12 × 12 pixels) and integrated into a coded-aperture based gamma-ray imaging system. A resistor-based symmetric charge division circuit was used reduce the multiplicity of the analog outputs from 144 to 4. The developed system exhibits 9.1%, 8.3%, and 8.0% FWHM energy resolutions at 511 keV, 662 keV, and 1173.2 keV, respectively. In addition, a pixel-identification resolution of 602 ㎛ FWHM was obtained from the GAGG(Ce) scintillator array.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• 제30권3호
• /
• pp.141-143
• /
• 2013

We propose jitter radiation and jitter self-Compton process in this work. We apply our model to the study of GRB prompt emission and GeV-emission. Our results can explain the multi-wavelength spectrum of GRB 100728A very well.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권11호
• /
• pp.4231-4235
• /
• 2022

Considering the importance of deuterium in nuclear science including medical and industrial researches such as (BNCT) and nuclear reactors respectively, it is important to study various possible ways in addition to common methods for measuring its concentration. This study is an effort to measure deuterium concentration using PGNAA. The main idea is to calculate the area under 2.23 MeV gamma-rays photo peak resulting from neutron collision with Hydrogen atoms which are in mix with deuterium in samples. The study carried out by both simulation and experiment. Monte Carlo MCNPX2.6 code has been used for simulation and based on its acceptable results an experimental setup has been arranged. The coordination of results was in the range of R = 0.99 and R = 0.98 in simulation and experiment respectively. The accuracy of the study has been investigated by measuring the concentration of an unknown sample by both PGNAA and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) methods in which there were acceptable correlation between these two methods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제53권2호
• /
• pp.626-636
• /
• 2021

Boron-neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a cancer treatment method that exploits the high neutron reactivity of boron. Monitoring the prompt gamma rays (PGs) produced during neutron irradiation is essential for ensuring the accuracy and safety of BNCT. We investigate the imaging of PGs produced by the boron-neutron capture reaction through Monte Carlo simulations of a gamma camera with a SrI₂ scintillator and parallel-hole collimator. GAGG scintillator is also used for a comparison. The simulations allow the shapes of the energy spectra, which exhibit a peak at 478 keV, to be determined along with the PG images from a boron-water phantom. It is found that increasing the size of the water phantom results in a greater number of image counts and lower contrast. Additionally, a higher septal penetration ratio results in poorer image quality, and a SrI₂ scintillator results in higher image contrast. Thus, we can simulate the BNCT process and obtain an energy spectrum with a reasonable shape, as well as suitable PG images. Both GAGG and SrI₂ crystals are suitable for PG imaging during BNCT. However, for higher imaging quality, SrI₂ and a collimator with a lower septal penetration ratio should be utilized.