Preliminary results on neutron production from a Pb/U target irradiated by deuteron beam at 1.25Â GeV/amu

A spallation neutron source consisted of a cylindrical Pb target and surrounded by uranium blanket was irradiated by deuteron beam 1.25 GeV/amu provided from the Nuclotron accelerator at High Energy Laboratory, JINR, Dubna. For radiation protection purpose a polyethylene shielding was placed around the spallation neutron source. Neutron distributions along the surface of the U-blanket were measured by using solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) as particle and fission detectors. The neutron distributions appear to be similar to those obtained by proton irradiations. Applying a fitting procedure to the experimental data the inelastic cross section of deuteron in Pb was estimated. The escaping neutron distribution from the polyethylene shielding and parallel to the target was also measured and presented to be two orders of magnitude less than that over the U-blanket surface.