CALIBRATION OF THE UAB PADC BASED NEUTRON DOSEMETER

CALIBRATION OF THE UAB PADC BASED NEUTRON DOSEMETER Measurements in quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams at the EC-IRMM Van der Graaf accelerator C. Domingo. M. J. García-Fusté. K. Amgarou. E. Morales and J. Castelo Grup de Física de les Radiacions 24 th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids

Overview 0. 1. 2. 1. The UAB PADC neutron dosimetry system 2. Dosemeter response 3. Measurements at EC-IRMM Van der Graaf facility 4. Results 5. Conclusions 3. 4. 5. 2 24 th ICNTS

The UAB PADC neutron dosimetric system Dosemeter configuration n n PADC neutron detector: CR-39 Converters: Ö 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. n Makrofol (300 μm) 6 c m Ö Rich in H. fast neutron interaction Nylon rich in N. high cross section for thermal neutrons Polyethylene (3 mm) Nylon (100 μm) CR-39 (500 μm) Methacrylate (5 mm) 6 cm Wrapped in Climafol pouches 3 24 th ICNTS

The UAB PADC neutron dosimetric system Process after irradiation 6 c m 0. n Cutting n Electrochemical Etching 6 cm 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 4 24 th ICNTS

The UAB PADC neutron dosimetric system Track density determination n n Typical track diameters of 100 μm Semi-automatic counting system Ö Ö 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. n Sony camera Image. J analysis software Scanned area: 0. 53 cm 2 5 24 th ICNTS

Dosemeter response n Expected behaviour Ö Ö NRPB Report W 25 R. J. Tanner et al. . Radit. Meas. 34 (2001) 457 -461 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6 24 th ICNTS

Dosemeter response n Calibration with ISO neutron sources and realistic fields at IRSN Cadarache (France) Mean Energy (neutron-1) 241 Am-Be ISO 4. 15 Me. V (1. 82 ± 0. 13)× 10 -4 450 ± 33 Bare 252 Cf ISO 2. 13 Me. V (2. 01 ± 0. 13)× 10 -4 591 ± 39 (252 Cf + D 2 O)/Cd ISO 539 ke. V (5. 55 ± 0. 27)× 10 -5 499 ± 24 ISO 539 ke. V (5. 17 ± 0. 23)× 10 -5 518 ± 23 Realistic 79 ke. V Source 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. RHp(10) Type of field 252 Cf + D 2 O SIGMA 7 RΦ (cm-2·m. Sv 1) (1. 422 ± 0. 064)× 10 -5 575 ± 26 24 th ICNTS

Dosemeter fluence response 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 8 24 th ICNTS

Dosemeter Hp(10. 0º) response 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 9 24 th ICNTS

Measurements at EC-IRMM Van der Graaf facility n n 0. 1. 2. n EC NUDAME program Quasi-monoenergetic neutron fields from few hundreds ke. V to 20 Me. V New energies for dosemeter calibration 3. 4. 5. 10 24 th ICNTS

Measurements at EC-IRMM Van der Graaf facility Neutron beams and methods n n n 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Neutron energies used: 300 ke. V. 800 ke. V. 7. 5 Me. V and 16 Me. V Methacrylate phantom used BSS spectrometry for determination of neutron spectrum and H*(10) reference value at each irradiation point 11 24 th ICNTS

Measurements at EC-IRMM Van der Graaf facility 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 12 24 th ICNTS

Results n n 0. 1. 4 dosemeters per energy Background determined with 4 extra non-irradiated dosemeters Nominal Energy Target Mean Energy with BSS RΦ RHp(10) (neutron-1) (cm-2·m. Sv-1) 300 ke. V T(p. n)3 He 269 ke. V (4. 13 ± 0. 53)× 10 -5 211 ± 27 800 ke. V T(p. n)3 He 662 ke. V (1. 24 ± 0. 16)× 10 -4 371 ± 48 7. 5 Me. V D(d. n)3 He 7. 53 Me. V (8. 95 ± 0. 16)× 10 -5 128 ± 24 16 Me. V T(d. n)4 He 12. 66 Me. V (1. 19 ± 0. 15)× 10 -4 198 ± 25 2. 3. 4. 5. 13 24 th ICNTS

Results – Fluence response 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 14 24 th ICNTS

Results – Dose response 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 15 24 th ICNTS

Conclusions n n 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. The knowledge of the dosemeter response have been expanded with new energies An important decrease of the response in the epithermal region has been confirmed … to be done n New values at thermal and low epithermal regions should be obtained to complete the dosemeter response function 5. 16 24 th ICNTS

Thanks for your attention! 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 17 24 th ICNTS