Existing NaI detectors; an efficient alternative to He-3 detectors

Neutron detectors are important in various fields of research, safeguards, security, medicine, and industry. The most common methods for detecting neutrons involve utilization of the 10B(n,α), 6Li(n,α), or 3He(n,p) reactions; with the He-3 filled proportional counters being the most widely used because of their high detection efficiency and good gamma ray discrimination. However these counters have severe drawbacks in terms of detector size and scarcity of He-3. The aim of this work is to investigate an alternative neutron detection method by using a boron lining with existing NaI detectors and compare the results with those obtained from a He-3 detector. The results show a good sensitivity of the boron-lined NaI detector to neutrons at different source locations and a considerable improvement in efficiency compared to He-3 detectors. On top of this the NaI detectors are used to detect the gamma rays from the surrounding source and interacting media.