Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1823013 Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 2013 8 Pages PDF
Abstract

Physically small, lightly encapsulated, radionuclide sources containing 252Cf are widely used for a vast variety of industrial, medical, educational and research applications requiring a convenient source of neutrons. For many quantitative applications, such as detector efficiency calibrations, the absolute strength of the neutron emission is needed. In this work we show how, by using a neutron multiplicity counter the neutron emission rate can be obtained with high accuracy. This provides an independent and alternative way to create reference sources in-house for laboratories such as ours engaged in international safeguards metrology. The method makes use of the unique and well known properties of the 252Cf spontaneous fission system and applies advanced neutron correlation counting methods. We lay out the foundation of the method and demonstrate it experimentally. We show that accuracy comparable to the best methods currently used by national bodies to certify neutron source strengths is possible.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Physics and Astronomy Instrumentation
Authors
, ,