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At least 1,063 records · Page 59
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

A prototype scintillating-fibre tracker for the cosmic-ray muon tomography of legacy nuclear waste containers

A prototype scintillating-fibre detector system has been developed at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) for the nondestructive assay of UK legacy nuclear waste containers. This system consists of two tracking modules above, and two below, the container under interrogation. Each module consists of two orthogonal planes of 2 mm-pitch fibres yielding one space point. Per plane, 128 fibres are read out by a single Hamamatsu H8500 64-channel MAPMT with two fibres multiplexed onto each pixel. A dedicated mapping scheme has been developed to avoid space point ambiguities and retain the high spatial resolution provided by the fibres. The configuration allows the reconstruction of the incoming and scattered muon trajectories, thus enabling the container content, with respect to atomic number Z, to be determined. Results are shown from experimental data collected for high-Z objects within an air matrix and, for the first time, within a shielded, concrete-filled container. These reconstructed images show clear discrimination between the low, medium and high-Z materials present, with dimensions and positions determined with sub-centimetre precision. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Counting neutrons from the spontaneous fission of {sup 238}U using scintillation detectors and mixed field analysers

It is well documented that {sup 238}U decays by spontaneous fission, and that it is the main component of most nuclear fuels. As nuclear fuels are largely classed as Special Nuclear Material (SNM), they have to be fully accounted for by owners and processing facilities. One possible method for verifying declared amounts of SNM is to count the spontaneous neutrons produced from {sup 238}U. Using four EJ-309 liquid scintillation detectors and a mixed field analyser, spontaneous neutrons from 16.4 g of depleted uranium (0.3% enrichment) have been assayed. The assay method shows promising results and this proof of principle will be researched further in order for it to be applied in an industrial setting. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Nuisance Alarm Reductions In Organic Scintillation Detector-Based Radiation Portal Monitors

A worldwide system of radiation portal monitors (RPMs) detects and deters the smuggling of special nuclear material (SNM) and other radiological sources that could be used by terrorist organizations in an improvised nuclear device or a radiological dispersal device. Nuisance alarms from non-SNM sources of radiation, however, account for the vast majority of RPM radiation alarms. We present research on a liquid organic scintillation detector-based RPM that reduces the impact of nuisance alarms through on-the- fly radionuclide identification. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characterization and Evaluation of Scintillating Fiber System Components

Idaho National Laboratory is studying long scintillation fibers (SF) in a project called “TRIPWIRE” which aims to verify containment in inaccessible nuclear waste repositories. This system will continuously monitor ionizing radiation, electromagnetic fields, and seismic activity in the vicinity of nuclear waste. Previous experiments have determined a better alternative to long SF is to couple shorter SF to kilometer scale optical fiber (OF) to reach electronics far outside of the repository. Minor signal attenuation from coupling these fibers has been observed using optical spectrometry. This experiment characterized two photomultiplier tubes (PMT) to reduce this loss by matching their spectral response characteristics to the SF’s emission spectrum. The experiment created a comparison between the two PMTs showing results that suggest other characteristics are playing a major role in improving signal attenuation when the SF is coupled to OF.

98 - NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL↗
DOE OSTI2015

Joint measurement of the atmospheric muon flux through the Puy de Dome volcano with plastic scintillators and Resistive Plate Chambers detectors

The muographic imaging of volcanoes relies on the measured transmittance of the atmospheric muon flux through the target. An important bias affecting the result comes from background contamination mimicking a higher transmittance. The MU-RAY and TOMUVOL collaborations measured independently in 2013 the atmospheric muon flux transmitted through the Puy de Dôme volcano using their early prototype detectors, based on plastic scintillators and on Glass Resistive Plate Chambers, respectively. These detectors had three (MU-RAY) or four (TOMUVOL) detection layers of 1 m 2 each, tens (MU-RAY) or hundreds (TOMUVOL) of nanosecond time resolution, a few millimeter position resolution, an energy threshold of few hundreds MeV, and no particle identification capabilities. The prototypes were deployed about 1.3 km away from the summit, where they measured, behind rock depths larger than 1000 m, remnant fluxes of 1.83±0.50(syst)±0.07(stat) m –2 d –1 deg –2 (MU-RAY) and 1.95±0.16(syst)±0.05(stat) m –2 d –1 deg –2 (TOMUVOL), that roughly correspond to the expected flux of high-energy atmospheric muons crossing 600 meters water equivalent (mwe) at 18° elevation. This implies that imaging depths larger than 500 mwe from 1 km away using such prototype detectors suffer from an overwhelming background. These measurements confirm that a new generation of detectors with higher momentum threshold, time-of-flight measurement, and/or particle identification is needed. As a result, the MU-RAY and TOMUVOL collaborations expect shortly to operate improved detectors, suitable for a robust muographic imaging of kilometer-scale volcanoes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Liquid Scintillation Counting of Environmental Radioisotopes: A Review of the Impact of Background Reduction

Liquid scintillation counting (LSC) is a versatile and commonplace method for radiometric measurement of charged particle emitting radionuclides. The LSC method provides utility in a range of environmental science applications including hydrological studies of water transport, anthropogenic releases of radionuclides into the environment, and vertical mixing rates within oceans. Instrumental measurement background is one limiting factor of radiometric measurement sensitivity. As part of the development of a custom low background LSC system located in a shallow underground laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a number of measurement applications of LSC have been considered and are summarized here. The focus is on determining which aspects of such measurements would gain the greatest benefit from the reduction of LSC backgrounds by a factor of 10-100 relative to values reported in the literature. Examples of benefits include lowering the minimum detectable activity, reducing the sample size required, and shortening the elapsed timeline of the processing and analysis sequence. In particular tritium, strontium, and actinium isotopes are examined as these isotopes cover a range of requirements related to the LSC measurement method (e.g., 3H: low energy; Sr: spectral deconvolution; Ac: alpha/beta discrimination).

actinium↗
DOE OSTI2017

A radioxenon detection system using CdZnTe, an array of SiPMs, and a plastic scintillator

This paper presents the design and characterization of a prototype compact beta–gamma radioxenon detection system that utilizes a coplanar CdZnTe crystal, an array of SiPMs, and a plastic scintillator. The detector is directly mounted on a custom PCB. The system provides the advantage of room-temperature operation, while being compact, low noise, and with simple readout electronics. Preliminary measurements using 137 Cs, 135 Xe, and 133/133m Xe were conducted to optimize various system parameters to achieve optimal resolution of key photopeaks. The purpose of this research was to explore the potential of these radiation detection elements for use in beta–gamma coincidence applications.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2019

Gaussian beam scintillation index for slant path in weak turbulence: closed form expressions

The scintillation index (SI) is an important issue in studying the effect of the atmospheric turbulence in the light waves. With the Rytov weak fluctuation theory, the SI is commonly referred to the Rytov parameter. The previous studies dealt with the plane wave and spherical wave models. Each of these gives an idea of how an optical beam will react to turbulence but are not realistic. One is infinitely long, while the other is an infinitesimal point source. The Gaussian beam wave is the most realistic of the optical waves, but also the most complex to use for calculations. In this paper, a closed form expression for Gaussian beam SI propagation in slant path and through weak fluctuation is derived using the polynomial model of the refractive index structure parameter. The slant path SI model of the plane and spherical waves can be generated from the SI expression of Gaussian beam. The analytic expressions are obtained and are then used to analyze the effect of propagation distance, transmitter/receiver heights, and elevation angle on the SI. Signal to noise ratio and bit error rate are calculated for performance evaluation showing a significant enhancement at elevation angles greater than 45°.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measurement of the scintillation time spectra and pulse-shape discrimination of low-energy β and nuclear recoils in liquid argon with DEAP-1

The DEAP-1 low-background liquid argon detector has been used to measure scintillation pulse shapes of beta decays and nuclear recoil events and to demonstrate the feasibility of pulse-shape discrimination down to an electron-equivalent energy of 20 keV ee . The relative intensities of singlet/triplet states in liquid argon have been measured as a function of energy between 15 and 500 keVee for both beta and nuclear recoils. Using a triple-coincidence tag we find the fraction of beta events that are misidentified as nuclear recoils to be less than 6 x 10 -8 between 43-86 keV ee and that the discrimination parameter agrees with a simple analytic model. The discrimination measurement is currently limited by nuclear recoils induced by cosmic-ray generated neutrons, and is expected to improve by operating the detector underground at SNOLAB. The analytic model predicts a beta misidentification fraction of 10 -10 for an electron-equivalent energy threshold of 20 keV ee . This reduction allows for a sensitive search for spin-independent scattering of WIMPs from 1000 kg of liquid argon with a WIMP-nucleon cross-section sensitivity of 10 -46 cm 2 .

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development of a scintillator based fast-ion loss detector for the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

A new scintillator based fast-ion loss detector (FILD) system has been designed for the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. The mechanical design of the system is presented here along with engineering analyses of the system. This includes an assessment of the structural loads which also considers electromagnetic forces calculated for possible disruption scenarios as well as a mode frequency analysis of the system. Furthermore, an analysis of the thermal characteristics of the actively cooled probe head under prescribed steady state and transient heat loads is presented. Finally, the optical relay system is described and its properties used to forward model synthetic camera signals using the FILDSIM code and based on theoretical fast-ion losses incident on the probe head calculated using the ASCOT5 code.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Study of the loss of xenon scintillation in xenon-trimethylamine mixtures

This work investigates the capability of TMA ((CH 3 ) 3 N) molecules to shift the wavelength of Xe VUV emission (160-188 nm) to a longer, more manageable, wavelength (260-350 nm). Light emitted from a Xe lamp was passed through a gas chamber filled with Xe-TMA mixtures at 800 Torr and detected with a photomultiplier tube. Using bandpass filters in the proper transmission ranges, no reemitted light was observed experimentally. Considering the detection limit of the experimental system, if reemission by TMA molecules occurs, it is below 0.3% of the scintillation absorbed in the 160-188 nm range. An absorption coefficient value for xenon VUV light by TMA of 0.43 ± 0.03 cm -1 Torr -1 was also obtained. These results can be especially important for experiments considering TMA as a molecular additive to Xe in large volume optical time projection chambers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Scintillation Light DAQ and Trigger System for the ICARUS T600 Experiment at Fermilab

ICARUS T600 will operate at shallow depths as far detector for the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at FNAL taking data from the BNB and NuMI beams. The entire apparatus will be exposed to the huge cosmic background which can mimic genuine neutrino interactions. To distinguish the signals related to the neutrino beams from those induced by cosmic rays, the detector will be provided with a trigger system that will exploit the coincidence of the prompt signals from the liquid argon scintillation light, detected by 360 Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs), with a beam gate window generated in correspondence to the expected arrival time of neutrinos in the T600.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Segmented YSO scintillation detectors as a new β -implant detection tool for decay spectroscopy in fragmentation facilities

A newly developed segmented YSO scintillator detector was implemented for the first time at the RI-beam Factory at RIKEN Nishina Center as an implantation-decay counter. The results from the experiment demonstrate that the detector is a viable alternative to conventional silicon-strip detectors with its good timing resolution and high detection efficiency for β particles. A Position-Sensitive Photo-Multiplier Tube (PSPMT) is coupled with a 48 × 48 segmented YSO crystal. To demonstrate its capabilities, a known short-lived isomer in 76 Ni and the β decay of 74 Co were measured by implanting those ions into the YSO detector. The half-lives and γ-rays observed in this work are consistent with the known values. The β -ray detection efficiency is more than 80 % for the decay of 74 Co.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Compact readout of large CLYC scintillators with silicon photomultipler arrays

Compact readout of a large (5 x 5 x 5 cm 3) CLYC scintillator was demonstrated with a 8 x 8 array of 6mm silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs, specifically, a SensL ArrayJ-60035-64P) and an optimized amplification and summing circuit. Read out by the SiPM array, the crystal yielded an energy resolution of 5.5% at 662 keV and a figure of merit of 3.5, equivalent to the performance achieved with a 3-inch Hamamatsu R6233-100 PMT. To reduce channel count and avoid individual amplification of each SiPM in the array, the standard outputs of 16 SiPMs were passively summed then amplified. A current feedback amplifier was used for each channel to provide the required fast response time. The four amplified channels were then passively summed resulting in a single signal channel. A custom laboratory setup, based on the PSD8C ASIC, was used to capture the output and provide time-gated integration for PSD computation. We conclude the compact volume, low bias voltage, and reduced mass of the SiPM array readout are desirable for space and national security applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Characterization of a silicon photo-multiplier array with summing board as a photo-multiplier tube replacement in organic scintillator assemblies

In this work, we report on the energy, timing, and pulse-shape discrimination performance of cylindrical 5.08 cm diameter x 5.08 cm thick and 7.62 cm diameter x 7.62 cm thick trans-stilbene crystals read out with the passively summed output of three different commercial silicon photo-multiplier arrays. Our results indicate that using the summed output of an 8 x 8 array of SiPMs provides performance competitive with photo-multiplier tubes for many neutron imaging and correlated particle measurements. For a 5.08 cm diameter x 5.08 cm thick crystal read out with SensL’s ArrayJ-60035_64P-PCB, which had the best overall properties, we measure the energy resolution as 17.8 ± 0.8% at 341 keVee (σ/E), the timing resolution in the 180–400 keVee range as 236 ± 61 ps (σ), and the pulse-shape discrimination figure-of-merit as 2.21 ± 0.03 in the 230–260 keVee energy range. For a 7.62 cm diameter x 7.62 cm thick crystal read out with SensL’s ArrayJ-60035_64P-PCB, we measure the energy resolution as 21.9 ± 2.3% at 341 keVee, the timing resolution in the 180–400 keVee range as 518 ± 42 ps, and the pulse-shape discrimination figure-of-merit as 1.49 ± 0.01 in the 230–260 keVee energy range. Our findings enable many scintillator-based instruments to enjoy the size, robustness, and power benefits of silicon photo-multiplier arrays as replacement for the photo-multiplier tubes that are predominantly used today.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fast-neutron response of LaBr 3 (Ce) and LaCl 3 (Ce) scintillators

The response of LaBr 3 (Ce) and LaCl 3 (Ce) scintillators to fast neutrons is investigated. Neutron-induced charged-particle reactions are observed in both materials when exposed to the fast neutrons produced by an AmBe source, with pulse-shape discrimination used to separate channels. LaBr 3 (Ce) is found to have the best separation between reaction channels, while LaCl 3 (Ce) has a significantly higher efficiency.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The electronic set-up for the scintillation light detection system of ICARUS-SBN at Fermilab

The ICARUS-T600 Liquid Argon (LAr) Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is presently used as the far detector of the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab (USA) to search for a possible sterile neutrino signal with the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB). We discuss a light detection system, based on 360 Hamamatsu R5912-MOD Photo-Multiplier Tubes (PMTs), which has been realized to detect vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons produced after the passage of ionizing particles in LAr. High performance electronics allows recording of the PMT signals and provides a fast discrimination for the exploitation of the scintillation light for trigger purposes. This system is fundamental for the TPC operation, contributing to the trigger system and for the 3D reconstruction of events.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Liquid scintillation counting methodology for 99 Tc analysis. A remedy for radiopharmaceutical waste

This paper presents a new approach for liquid scintillation counting (LSC) analysis of single-radionuclide samples containing appreciable organic or inorganic quench. This work offers better analytical results than existing LSC methods for technetium-99 ( 99g Tc) analysis with significant savings in analysis cost and time. The method was developed to quantify 99g Tc in environmental liquid and urine samples using LSC. Method efficiency was measured in the presence of 1.9 to 11,900 ppm total dissolved solids. The quench curve was proved to be effective in the case of spiked 99g Tc activity calculation for deionized water, tap water, groundwater, seawater, and urine samples. Counting efficiency was found to be 91.66% for Ultima Gold LLT (ULG-LLT) and Ultima Gold (ULG). Relative error in spiked 99g Tc samples was ±3.98% in ULG and ULG-LLT cocktails. Minimum detectable activity was determined to be 25.3 mBq and 22.7 mBq for ULG-LLT and ULG cocktails, respectively. A pre-concentration factor of 1000 was achieved at 100°C for 100% chemical recovery.

Cocktail↗