A proposed semi-empirical method for 235U mass calibration of the active-well neutron coincidence counter

Introduction to Neutron Coincidence Counter Design Based on Boron-10

“…An example of a transportable AWCC is seen in Figure 3.2, taken from Zendel [2007]. Figure 3.3 shows a schematic of an AWCC, taken from El-Gammal (2006). A typical system operates in either fast mode or thermal mode, where the difference is the presence of a cadmium liner in fast mode.…”

On the Mathematical Calibration of the Active Well Neutron Coincidence Counter (AWCC)

“…In the field of nuclear safeguards, the Active Well Coincidence Counter (AWCC) Figure (1) is one of the main devices that are used to verify Nuclear Materials (NMs). The AWCC is a neutron coincidence counting system [1]. It is a transportable high-efficiency counter for measuring uranium isotopic masses in uranium bearing materials.…”

“…The active mode operation of the AWCC is based on the detection of coincidence neutrons produced from induced fission of 235 U isotope using interrogation neutron sources (one or more Am-Li neutron sources are inserted in the top and/or bottom of the detector well). The AWCC construction and operation was described and explained by different authors in many papers and technical reports [1][2][3][4][5].…”

“…They demonstrated its applicability for assaying the uranium content of a wide variety of materials and generated calibration curves for different NM categories. A semi-empirical calibration formula to calibrate the AWCC for 235 U measurements was developed by El-Gammal et al and Winn et al [1,12]. The AWCC was also used for assaying HEU samples with variation in matrix impurity [13], characterization of unknown NM samples [14], and cross-calibration investigation and other applications [15][16][17].…”