Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Development of a DDA+PGA-combined non-destructive active interrogation system in "Active-N"

  • Kazuyoshi Furutaka (Nuclear Science and Engineering Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency) ;
  • Akira Ohzu (Nuclear Science and Engineering Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency) ;
  • Yosuke Toh (Nuclear Science and Engineering Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency)
  • Received : 2023.01.04
  • Accepted : 2023.07.11
  • Published : 2023.11.25
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Abstract

An integrated neutron interrogation system has been developed for non-destructive assay of highly-radioactive special nuclear materials, to accumulate knowledge of the method through developing and using it. The system combines a differential die-away (DDA) measurement system for the quantification of nuclear materials and a prompt gamma-ray analysis (PGA) system for the detection of neutron poisons which disturb the DDA measurements; a common D-T neutron generator is used. A special care has been taken for the selection of materials to reduce the background gamma rays produced by the interrogation neutrons. A series of measurements were performed to test the basic performance of the system. The results show that the DDA system can quantify plutonium of as small as 20 mg and it is not affected by intense neutron background up to 1.57 × 107 s-1 and gamma ray of 4.43 × 1010 s-1. The gamma-ray background counting rate at the PGA detector was reduced down to 3.9 × 103 s-1 even with the use of the D-T neutron generator. The test measurements show that the PGA system is capable of detecting 0.783 g of boron and about 86.8 g of gadolinium in 30 min.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Ms. M. Komatsuzaki, Mr. K. Morita, Mr. N. Kobayashi, Ms. Kurihara, and Mr. M. Takase, for their maintenance of the apparatus and preparation of measurements. Thanks are also due to the staff working in BECKY section of NUCEF in JAEA for their cooperation. This research was implemented under the subsidy for nuclear security promotion from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).

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