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Prompt Photofission Neutron Detection in Depleted Uranium

A.J. Jinia1,*, T.E. Maurer1, C.A. Meert1, O.V. Pakari1, S.D. Clarke1,†, H.S. Kim2, D.D. Wentzloff2, and S.A. Pozzi1,3,‡

  • 1Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2355 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2104, USA
  • 2Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of Michigan, 1301 Beal Ave, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2104, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Michigan, 450 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1040, USA

  • *ajinia@umich.edu
  • †clarkesd@umich.edu
  • ‡pozzisa@umich.edu
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Phys. Rev. Applied 19, 054073 – Published 23 May, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.054073

Abstract

The detection of prompt photofission neutrons during active interrogation is a strong indication of the presence of special nuclear materials. However, the high-energy photons used for interrogation create a very challenging radiation environment for the detection of prompt fission signatures. These challenges include detector saturation and pulse pile-up. Additionally, there is an elevated neutron background that further challenges the detection of prompt fission neutrons. This background is produced because of (γ, Xn) photonuclear reactions in the surrounding high-Z materials. Here, we demonstrate the detection of prompt photofission neutrons in these challenging environments. Depleted uranium (DU) and lead targets are interrogated with bremsstrahlung photons produced by a 9-MV electron linear accelerator. Fast neutrons are detected with trans-stilbene organic detectors, and scintillation pulses are analyzed using a previously developed and demonstrated artificial neural network system. We observe a 5 times higher photoneutron count rate when the lead target is replaced with the DU target. Additionally, we observe a difference in the photoneutron light-output distributions of lead and DU. This difference in the measured distributions is due to the difference in the photoneutron-energy spectra; DU photoneutrons are emitted with (γ, n) and watt-energy spectra, whereas lead photoneutrons are emitted with only the (γ, n) spectrum.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 19, 054073– Published 23 May, 2023
  • Received 12 September 2022
  • Revised 28 February 2023
  • Accepted 1 May 2023
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