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

Abstract

Generation of calibration curves for radiation detectors are essential in radiation spectroscopy. Such curves usually relate some characteristic quantities of measured samples (such as radioactivity of a certain isotope or its mass) with the output of the used detector (counting rates). The most direct and easiest way to generate these curves is performed using a set of suitable radioactive standard materials. Whenever standard materials are not available, mathematical calibration could be employed. In this work, a proposed model for mathematical calibration of a neutron coincidence counter (the Active Well Neutron Coincidence Counter, AWCC) was achieved using the Monte Carlo simulation method. Effects of the counter and experimental set up parameters on the simulation process were studied. The validity of the proposed model was checked using sets of nuclear material standards. The obtained modeling results are in agreement with experiments within an accuracy of better than 8.5%.