Feasibility study of a compact neutron resonance transmission analysis instrument
Name
1909.11120v3.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
657.24 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1d4363d9d17a45acd80339e092c34393
Author(s)
Engel, Ezra M
Klein, Ethan A
Danagoulian, Areg
Date Issued
January 28, 2020
Journal
AIP Advances
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Citation
Ezra M. Engel, Ethan A. Klein, Areg Danagoulian; Feasibility study of a compact neutron resonance transmission analysis instrument. AIP Advances 1 January 2020; 10 (1): 015051.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis (NRTA) uses resonant absorption of neutrons to infer the absolute isotopic composition of a target object, enabling applications in a broad range of fields such as archeology, enrichment analysis of nuclear fuel, and arms control treaty verification. In the past, NRTA involved large user facilities and complex detector systems. However, recent advances in the intensity of compact neutron sources have made compact neutron imaging designs increasingly feasible. This work describes the Monte Carlo (MC) based design of a compact epithermal NRTA radiographic instrument, which uses a moderated, compact deuterium-tritium neutron source and an epithermal neutron detector. Such an instrument would have a wide range of applications and would be especially impactful for scenarios such as nuclear inspection and arms control verification exercises, where system complexity and mobility may be of critical importance. The MC simulations presented in this work demonstrate accurate time-of-flight reconstructions for transmitted neutron energies, capable of differentiating isotopic compositions of nuclear material with high levels of accuracy. A new generation of miniaturized and increasingly more intense neutron sources will allow this technique to achieve measurements with greater precision and speed, with significant impact on a variety of engineering and societal problems.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5129961
