• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.512-521
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• 1999

A feasibility study was performed to design an epithermal neutron beam for BNCT using the neutron of 2.45 MeV on the average produced from $^2H(d,n)^3$He reaction induced by plasma focus in the z-pinch instead of the conventional accelerator-based $^3H(d, n)^4$He neutron generator. Flux and spectrum were analyzed to use these neutrons as the neutron source for BNCT. Neutronic characteristics of several candidate materials in this neutron source were investigated Using MCNP Code, and $^7LiF$ ; 40%Al + 60%$AIF_3$, and Pb Were determined as moderator, filter, and reflector in an epithermal neutron beam design for BNCT, respectively. The skin-skull-brain ellipsoidal phantom, which consists of homogeneous regions of skin-, bone-, or brain-equivalent material, was used in order to assess the dosimetric effect in brain. An epithermal neutron beam design for BNCT was proposed by the repeated work with MCNP runs, and the dosimetric properties (AD, AR, ADDR, and Dose Components) calculated within the phantom showed that the neutron beam designed in this work is effective in tumor therapy. If the neutron source flux is high enough using the z-pinch plasma, BNCT using the neutron source produced from $^2H(d,n)^3$He reaction will be very feasible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.787-791
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• 2017

Americium-beryllium (Am-Be; n, ${\gamma}$) is a neutron emitting source used in various research fields such as chemistry, physics, geology, archaeology, medicine, and environmental monitoring, as well as in the forensic sciences. It is a mobile source of neutron activity (20 Ci), yielding a small thermal neutron flux that is water moderated. The aim of this study is to develop a model to increase the neutron thermal flux of a source such as Am-Be. This study achieved multiple advantageous results: primarily, it will help us perform neutron activation analysis. Next, it will give us the opportunity to produce radio-elements with short half-lives. Am-Be single and multisource (5 sources) experiments were performed within an irradiation facility with a paraffin moderator. The resulting models mainly increase the thermal neutron flux compared to the traditional method with water moderator.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.1030-1036
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• 2022

A high detection efficiency thermal neutron detector based on the ⁶LiF/ZnS(Ag) scintillation screens, wavelength-shifting fibers (WLSF) and Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout is under development at China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) for the Engineering Material Diffractometer (EMD).A prototype with a sensitive volume of 180mm×192mm has been built. Signals from SiPMs are processed by the self-design Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The performances of this detector prototype are as follows: neutron detection efficiency could reach 50.5% at 1 Å, position resolution of 3, the dark count rate <0.1Hz, the maximum count rate >200KHz. Such detector prototype could be an elementary unit for applications in the EMD detector arrays.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.989-995
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• 2018

Argonne National Laboratory of the United States and Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) of Ukraine have cooperated on the development, design, and construction of a neutron source facility. The facility was constructed at Kharkov, Ukraine, and its commissioning process is underway. The facility will be used for researches, producing medical isotopes, and training young nuclear specialists. The neutron source facility is designed with a provision to include a cryogenically cooled moderator system-a cold neutron source (CNS). This CNS provides low-energy neutrons, which will be used in the scattering experiment and material structures analysis. Cold neutron guides, coated with reflective material for the low-energy neutrons, will be used to transport the cold neutrons to the experimental site. The cold neutron guides would keep the cold neutrons within certain energy and angular space concentrated inside, while most of the gamma rays and high-energy neutrons are not affected by the cold neutron guides. For the KIPT design, the cold neutron guides need to extend several meters outside the main shield of the facility, and curved guides will also be used to remove the gamma and high-energy neutron. The neutron guides should be installed inside a shield structure to ensure an acceptable biological dose in the facility hall. Heavy concrete is the selected shielding material because of its acceptable performance and cost. Shield design analysis was carried out for the CNS guide hall. MCNPX was used as the major computation tool for the design analysis, with neutron and gamma dose calculated separately. Weight windows variance reduction technique was also used in the shield design. The goal of the shield design is to keep the total radiation dose below the $5.0{\mu}Sv/hr$ guideline outside the shield boundary. After a series of iterative MCNPX calculations, the shield configuration and parameters of CNS guide hall were determined and presented in this article.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 1985

The manganous sulfate bath method for neutron source calibrations at the K-SRI is described together with the measurement of neutron emission rate of a source and the corrections applied for capture by competing nuclei of neutrons, and thermal neutron leakage, neutron absorption in the source itself. The commercially available neutron sources (Am-Be, $^{252}Cf$) for the calibration checks of neutron radiation instruments in the MeV range are considered in this paper.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.9
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• pp.3121-3125
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• 2023

Neutron conversion detectors that use ¹⁰B-enriched boron carbide are feasible alternatives to ³He-based detectors. We prepared boron carbide films at micron-scale thickness using direct-current magnetron sputtering. The structural characteristics of natural B₄C films, including density, roughness, crystallization, and purity, were analyzed using grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy. A beam profile test was conducted to verify the practicality of the ¹⁰B-enriched B₄C neutron conversion layer. A clear profile indicated the high quality of the neutron conversion of the boron carbide layer.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.477-484
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• 2020

The control rod drive mechanism needs to be debugged after reactor fresh fuel loading. It is of great importance to monitor the subcriticality of this process accurately. A modified method was applied to the subcriticality monitoring process, in which only a single control rod cluster was fully withdrawn from the core. In order to correct the error in the results obtained by Neutron Source Multiplication Method, which is based on one point reactor model, Monte Carlo neutron transport code was employed to calculate the fission neutron distribution, the iterated fission probability and the neutron flux in the neutron detector. This article analyzed the effect of a coarse mesh and a fine mesh to tally fission neutron distributions, the iterated fission probability distributions and to calculate correction factors. The subcriticality before and after modification is compared with the subcriticality calculated by MCNP code. The modified results turn out to be closer to calculation. It's feasible to implement the modified NSM method in large local reactivity addition process using Monte Carlo code based on 3D model.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.426-429
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• 2003

Neutron induced prompt gamma-ray spectroscopy (NIPS) system equipped with a $^{252}Cf$ neutron source and a n-type coaxial HPGe detector was installed for the quantitative analysis of aqueous samples in KAERI, Korea. Since the thermal neutron flux for the $^{252}Cf$ neutron source is relatively low compared to that for the reactor, the use of a thermal neutron reflector in the NIPS system may lead to improved results. The enhancement by using various reflectors was carried out by comparing the Cl peak with or without a cadmium plate between sample and the $^{252}Cf$ source. The use of pyrolitic graphite as a reflector provided a good result.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.367-372
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• 1992

In order to measure the energy spectrum of a radioactive neutron source, the pulse shape discrimination (PSD) system with organic scintillator, NE-213, was characterized by using some of the gamma ray sources and neutron source, Am-Be. The figure of merit of the rise time spectrum of AmBe source measured by this system was about 1.13. This value agrees well with the value of 1.3 which is measured for monoenergetic source, $^{12}C(d,\;n)^{13}N$. The results of present experiment for performance test of NE213-PSD system will provide the useful technique to measure the spectrum of neutron-gamma mixed field and to establish the neutron energy spectrum and flux density standards.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 1992

For the neutron spectrum measurement, $^6Li$ neutron spectrometer system is installed. The characteristic of the $^6Li$ detector are investigated using a $^{137}Cs$ and $^{207}Bi$ point source, and the neutron capture peaks and the pulse height spectrum using an $^{214}Am-Be$ neutron source are measured. Furthermore, the pulse height spectrum for the irradiation time variation from the (214)^Am-Be neutron source, and for the distance variation between detector and source, and the threshold variation of discriminator are measured.