Fast Neutron Spectrometry With An Ne 213 Detector

A high-energy liquid-organic scintillation spectrometer system is described. This spectrometer was developed to measure neutron spectra in extracted beams from zero-power fast reactors. The highly efficient NE-213 scintillation solution was used as the neutron detection medium. Identification and removal of gamma-ray-induced events was accomplished using electronic pulse shape discrimination. Instrumentation used to process the discrete pulses stemming from neutron and gamma-ray interactions, within the scintillation solution, is described in detail. Evaluation of the system's performance is discussed for a gamma-ray discrimination ratio of nominally 1000:1, a total countrate of 3000 cps, and a dynamic range corresponding to neutron energies from 1 to 10 MeV. Operation above 10 MeV is certainly possible. However, since the neutron flux above 10 MeV was negligible in the radiation fields of interest in this work, the operating characteristics of the spectrometer were not evaluated above 10 MeV. Neutron spectra are reported for extracted beam measurements made on ZPPR assembly 4, phase 2.

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