ABSOLUTE MEASUREMENT OF 14.57 MeV NEUTRON FLUENCE RATE USING PROTON RECOIL NEUTRON TELESCOPE

Abstract

A single stage vacuum-type proton recoil neutron telescope (PRT) was used for accurate measurement of 14.57 MeV neutron fluence rate from an indigenously developed D-T neutron generator at Purnima, BARC. The telescope consists of a polyethylene radiator having 4 cm diameter and CsI (Tl) scintillation crystal having thickness 1.5 mm and 4 cm diameter separated by 20.5 cm kept in a vacuum chamber. The neutron detection efficiency of the telescope for 14.57 MeV neutrons was calculated analytically using n-p scattering cross section data from Evaluated Nuclear Data File VII and also evaluated using fluka simulation. The relativistic transformation of n-p differential scattering cross section from centre-of-mass to laboratory system was used for calculating the efficiency of PRT. The 14.57 MeV neutron fluence rate was also measured using copper foils. The comparison of fluence rate measured using PRT and copper foil activation techniques is presented in this paper. The total uncertainty in measurement using PRT and copper foil activation technique is found to be 3.93 and 6.97%, respectively.