Characterization of a neutron-beta counting system with beta-delayed neutron emitters

Agramunt, J.; Tain, J.; Gomez-Hornillos, M.; Garcia, A.; Albiol, E.; Algora, A.; Caballero-Folch, R.; Calvino, E.; Cano-Ott, D.; Cortes, G.; Domingo-Pardo, C.; Eronen, T.; Gelletly, W.; Gorelov, D.; Gorlychev, V.; Hakala, H.; Jokinen, A.; Jordan, M.; Kankainen, A.; Kolhinen, V.; Kucuk, L.; Martinez, T.; Mason, P.; Moore, I.; Penttila, H.; Podolyak, Zs.; Pretel, C.; Reponen, M.; Riego, A.; Rissanen, J.; Rubio, B.; Saastamoinen, A.; Tarifeno-Saldivia, A.; Valencia, E.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.10.082

Characterization of a neutron-beta counting system with beta-delayed neutron emitters

Agramunt J., Tain J. L., Gomez-Hornillos M. B., Garcia A. R., Albiol E., Algora A., ...More

NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION A-ACCELERATORS SPECTROMETERS DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT, vol.807, pp.69-78, 2016 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

Publication Type: Article / Article
Volume: 807
Publication Date: 2016
Doi Number: 10.1016/j.nima.2015.10.082
Journal Name: NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION A-ACCELERATORS SPECTROMETERS DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
Page Numbers: pp.69-78
Istanbul University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

A new detection system for the measurement of beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities has been characterized using fission products with well known beta-delayed neutron emission properties. The setup consists of BELEN-20, a 4 pi-neutron counter with twenty He-3 proportional tubes arranged inside a large polyethylene neutron moderator, a thin Si detector for beta counting and a self-triggering digital data acquisition system. The use of delayed-neutron precursors with different neutron emission windows allowed the study of the effect of energy dependency on neutron, beta and beta-neutron rates. The observed effect is well reproduced by Monte Carlo simulations. The impact of this dependency on the accuracy of neutron emission probabilities is discussed. A new accurate value of the neutron emission probability for the important delayed-neutron precursor I-137 was obtained, P-n = 7.76(14)%. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.