Secondary photon fields produced in accelerator-based sources for neutron generation

Neutrons can be produced with low-energy ion accelerators for many applications, such as the characterisation of neutron detectors, the irradiation of biological samples and the study of the radiation damage in electronic devices. Moreover, accelerator-based neutron sources are under development for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Thin targets are used for generating monoenergetic neutrons, while thick targets are usually employed for producing more intense neutron fields. The associated photon field produced by the target nuclei may have a strong influence on the application under study. For instance, these photons can play a fundamental role in the design of an accelerator-based neutron source for BNCT. This work focuses on the measurement of the photon field associated with neutrons that are produced by 4.0-6.8 MeV protons striking both a thin 7LiF target (for generating monoenergetic neutrons) and a thick beryllium target. In both cases, very intense photon fields are generated with energy distribution extending up to several MeV.     

Effects of proton escape on detection efficiency in thin scintillator elements and its consequences for optimization of fast-neutron imaging

Plastic scintillators are commonly used for neutron detection in the MeV energy range, based on n-p scattering and the subsequent deposition of recoil proton's kinetic energy in the detector material. This detection procedure gives a quasi-rectangular energy deposition distribution for mono-energetic neutrons, extending from zero to the neutron energy. However, if the detector sensitive element (DSE) is small, the energy deposition may be incomplete due to the recoil proton escape.In the application of neutron imaging, here exemplified by fast-neutron tomography, two conflicting requirements have been identified: (1) thin DSEs are required to obtain high spatial resolution and (2) energy discrimination may be required to reduce the influence of neutrons being scattered into the DSEs, which generally occurs at lower energies. However, at small DSE widths, the reduction of energy deposition due to recoil proton escape may cause a significant decrease in detection efficiency when energy discrimination is applied.In this work, energy deposition distributions in small-size DSEs have been simulated for Deuterium-Deuterium (DD; 2.5 MeV) and Deuterium-Tritium (DT; 14.1 MeV) fusion neutrons. The intrinsic efficiency has been analyzed as a function of energy discrimination level for various detector widths. The investigations show that proton recoil escape causes a significant drop in intrinsic detection efficiency for thin DSEs. For DT neutrons, the drop is 10% at a width of 3.2 mm and 50% at a width of 0.6 mm, assuming an energy threshold at half the incident neutron energy. The corresponding widths for a DD detector are 0.17 and 0.03 mm, respectively.Finally, implications of the proton escape effect on the design of a fast-neutron tomography device for void distribution measurements at Uppsala University are presented. It is shown that the selection of DSE width strongly affects the instrument design when optimizing for image unsharpness.     

On the luminescence properties of CaSO4:Ce

In conformal moving beam therapy with fast neutrons, the contributions to dose from the direct beam, scattered radiation and the gamma component vary with the position in the phantom. To determine this variation in radiation quality, microdosimetric measurements of energy deposition spectra were performed at different position in a therapy phantom. Fixed beam irradiation at different incidence angles showed strong changes in the lineal energy spectrum. An increase of slow protons (20 < y < 110 keV.micron-1) and a decrease of fast protons (2 < y < 20 keV.micron-1) was seen for irradiation outside the direct beam. During moving beam irradiation, different positions on the same isodose curves (55% or 35%) showed differences in YD of up to 5%. Variations in the quality parameter, R, determined by applying an empirical biological weighting function, were of similar magnitude. Thus, spatial variations in radiation quality should be taken into account in biological dose planning for moving beam neutron therapy.     

Development of a fast neutron spectrometer composed of silicon-SSD and position-sensitive proportional counters

A new fast neutron spectrometer has been developed. The spectrometer is composed of a silicon surface barrier detector and three position-sensitive proportional counters with methane gas working as counting gas and a radiator. A collimated incident neutron interacts with a hydrogen atom in the methane gas to generate a recoil proton. The position information on the path of the recoil proton obtained from the three position-sensitive proportional counters gives the recoil angle. In the meanwhile, the energy of the recoil protons is measured with the three proportional counters and the silicon surface barrier detector. The characteristics of the spectrometer were evaluated with a monoenergetic neutron beam. The best energy resolution was 1.8% for 5.0 MeV neutrons.     

Spallation neutron spectra measurements Part II: Proton recoil spectrometer

We present the experimental method conceived to measure high energy neutrons in the range (200 ≤ E ≤ 1600 MeV). The neutrons produce recoil protons in a liquid hydrogen converter. Momentum evaluation and identification of these protons are made by using a magnetic spectrometer equipped with plastic scintillators and three double-plane (X-Y) wire chambers. The response functions of the apparatus are determined using quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams produced by the break-up of deuterons or ³He on a Be target. The performance of the apparatus is illustrated in the form of a preliminary neutron spectrum.     

Space neutron spectrometer design with SSPM-based instrumentation

The compact, robust nature of the CMOS solid-state photomultiplier (SSPM) allows the creation of small, low-power scintillation-based radiation measurement devices. Monitoring space radiation including solar protons and secondary neutrons generated from high-energy protons impinging on spacecraft is required to determine the dose to astronauts. Small size and highly integrated design are desired to minimize consumption of payload resources.RMD is developing prototype radiation measurement and personal dosimeter devices using emerging scintillation materials coupled to CMOS SSPM’s for multiple applications. Spectroscopic measurements of high-energy protons and gamma-rays using tissue-equivalent, inorganic scintillators coupled to SSPM devices demonstrate the ability of an SSPM device to monitor the dose from proton and heavy ion particles, providing real time feedback to astronauts. Measurement of the dose from secondary neutrons introduces additional challenges due to the need to discriminate neutrons from other particle types and to accurately determine their energy deposition. We present strategies for measuring neutron signatures and assessing neutron dose including simulations of relevant environments and detector materials.     

Corrections and uncertainties for neutron fluence measurements with proton recoil telescopes in anisotropic fields

By means of a Monte Carlo simulation correction factors and uncertainties in neutron fluence determination with a proton recoil telescope were deduced in the energy range of MeV ≤ E_n ≤ 14 MeV. The calculation took into account the properties of the deuteron beam, the deuterium gas target and the telescope. The influence of in- and out-scattering of neutrons and recoil protons was considered. Analysis of the experiments showed that an uncertainty of 2.0% (standard deviation) in neutron fluence determination can be obtained. A detailed listing of uncertainties is given which allows a covariance matrix to be generated.     

Simulation code for the interaction of 14 MeV neutrons on cells

The structure of the survival curve of melanoma cells irradiated by 14 MeV neutrons displays unusual features at very low dose rate where a marked increase in cell killings at 0.05 Gy is followed by a plateau for survival from 0.1 to 0.32 Gy. In parallel a simulation code was constructed for the interaction of 14 MeV neutrons with cellular cultures. The code describes the interaction of the neutrons with the atomic nuclei of the cellular medium and of the external medium (flask culture and culture medium), and is used to compute the deposited energy into the cell volume. It was found that the large energy transfer events associated with heavy charged recoils can occur and that a large part of the energy deposition events are due to recoil protons emitted from the external medium. It is suggested that such events could partially explain the experimental results.     

Energy and angular dependence of active-type personal dosemeter for high-energy neutron

In order to develop an active-type personal dosemeter having suitable sensitivity to high-energy neutrons, the characteristic response of silicon surface barrier detector has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. An agreement of the shape of pulse-height distribution, its change with radiator thickness and the relative sensitivity was confirmed between the calculated and experimental results for 14.8-MeV neutrons. The angular dependence was estimated for other neutron energies, and found that the angular dependence decreased with the incident energy. The reason was also discussed with regard to the radiator thickness relative to maximum range of recoil protons.     

Advances in neutron imaging

Imaging techniques based on neutron beams are rapidly developing and have become versatile non-destructive analyzing tools in many research fields. Due to their intrinsic properties, neutrons differ strongly from electrons, protons or X-rays in terms of their interaction with matter: they penetrate deeply into most common metallic materials while they have a high sensitivity to light elements such as hydrogen, hydrogenous substances, or lithium. This makes neutrons perfectly suited probes for research on materials that are used for energy storage and conversion, e.g., batteries, hydrogen storage, fuel cells, etc. Moreover, their wave properties can be exploited to perform diffraction, phase-contrast and dark-field imaging experiments. Their magnetic moment allows for resolving magnetic properties in bulk samples. This review will focus on recent applications of neutron imaging techniques in both materials research and fundamental science illustrated by examples selected from different areas.     

Arrangement of high-energy neutron irradiation field and shielding experiment using 4 m concrete at KENS

An irradiation field of high-energy neutrons produced in the forward direction from a thick tungsten target bombarded by 500 MeV protons was arranged at the KENS spallation neutron source facility. In this facility, shielding experiment was performed with an ordinary concrete shield of 4 m thickness assembled in the irradiation room, 2.5 m downstream from the target centre. Activation detectors of bismuth, aluminium, indium and gold were inserted into eight slots inside the shield and attenuations of neutron reaction rates were obtained by measurements of gamma-rays from the activation detectors. A MARS14 Monte Carlo simulation was also performed down to thermal energy, and comparisons between the calculations and measurements show agreements within a factor of 3. This neutron field is useful for studies of shielding, activation and radiation damage of materials for high-energy neutrons, and experimental data are useful to check the accuracies of the transmission and activation calculation codes.     

Fricke gel dosimetry in boron neutron capture therapy

Gel dosimetry allows three-dimensional (3D) measurement of absorbed dose in tissue-equivalent dosemeter phantoms. Gel phantoms are imaged using optical techniques. In neutron capture therapy (NCT), properly designed gel dosemeters can give 3D dose distributions, due to the various components of the secondary radiation, in phantoms exposed in the thermal or epithermal column of a nuclear reactor. In addition to the therapeutic dose arising from the reaction 10B(n,alpha)7Li, the other dose components are also obtainable, i.e. the gamma dose (due to reactor background and to the reaction 1H(n,gamma)2H of thermal neutrons with hydrogen, the dose due to protons emitted in the reaction 14N(n,p)14C of thermal neutrons with nitrogen and the dose due to recoil protons resulting from elastic scattering of epithermal neutrons.     

Measurements of the response functions of a large size NE213 organic liquid scintillator for neutrons up to 800 MeV

The response functions of 25.4 cm (length) x 25.4 cm (diameter) NE213 organic liquid scintillator have been measured for neutrons in the energy range from 20 to 800 MeV at the Heavy-Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) and at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) of Osaka University. At HIMAC, white (continuous) energy spectrum neutrons were produced by the 400 MeV per nucleon carbon ion bombardment on a thick graphite target, whose energy spectrum has already been measured by Kurosawa et al., [Nucl. Sci. Eng. 132, 30 (1999)] and the response functions of the time-of-flight-gated monoenergetic neutrons in a wide energy range from 20 to 800 MeV were simultaneously measured. At RCNP, the quasi-monoenergetic neutrons were produced via 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction by 250 MeV proton beam bombardment on a thin 7Li target, and the TOF-gated 245 MeV peak neutrons were measured. The absolute peak neutron yield was obtained by the measurement of 478 keV gamma rays from the 7Be nuclei produced in a Li target. The measured results show that the response functions for monoenergetic neutrons < 250 MeV have a recoil proton plateau and an edge around the maximum light output, which increases with increasing incident neutron energy, on the other hand > 250 MeV, the plateau and the edge become unclear because the proton range becomes longer than the detector size and the escaping protons increase. It can be found that the efficiency of the 24.5 cm (diameter) x 25.4 cm (length) NE213 for the 250 MeV neutrons is -10 times larger than the 12.7 cm (length) x 12.7 cm (diameter) NE213, which is widely used as a neutron spectrometer.     

Development of a quasi-monoenergetic neutron field using the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction in the energy range from 250 to 390 MeV at RCNP

A quasi-monoenergetic neutron field using the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction has been developed at the ring cyclotron facility at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University. Neutrons were generated from a 10-mm-thick Li target injected by 250, 350 and 392 MeV protons and neutrons produced at 0 degrees were extracted into the time-of-flight (TOF) room of 100-m length through the concrete collimator of 10 x 12 cm aperture and 150 cm thickness. The neutron energy spectra were measured by a 12.7-cm diam x 12.7-cm long NE213 organic liquid scintillator using the TOF method. The peak neutron fluence was 1.94 x 10(10), 1.07 x 10(10) and 1.50 x 10(10) n sr(-1) per muC of 250, 350 and 392 MeV protons, respectively. The neutron spectra generated from various thick (stopping length) targets of carbon, aluminium, iron and lead, bombarded by 250 and 350 MeV protons, were also measured with the TOF method. Although these measurements were performed to obtain thick target neutron yields, they are also used as a continuous energy neutron field. These neutron fields are very useful for characterising neutron detectors, measuring neutron cross sections, testing irradiation effects for various materials and performing neutron shielding experiments.     

Neutron field produced by 25 MeV deuteron on thick beryllium for radiobiological study; energy spectrum

Biological data is necessary for estimation of protection from neutrons, but there is a lack of data on biological effects of neutrons for radiation protection. Radiological study on fast neutrons has been done at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences. An intense neutron source has been produced by 25 MeV deuterons on a thick beryllium target. The neutron energy spectrum, which is essential for neutron energy deposition calculation, was measured from thermal to maximum energy range by using an organic liquid scintillator and multi-sphere moderated 3He proportional counters. The spectrum of the gamma rays accompanying the neutron beam was measured simultaneously with the neutron spectrum using the organic liquid scintillator. The transmission by the shield of the spurious neutrons originating from the target was measured to be less than 1% by using the organic liquid scintillator placed behind the collimator. The measured neutron energy spectrum is useful in dose calculations for radiobiology studies.     

AMANDE: a new facility for monoenergetic neutron fields production between 2 keV and 20 MeV

The variation of the response of the instruments with the neutron energy has to be determined in well-characterized monoenergetic neutron fields. The AMANDE facility will deliver such neutron fields between 2 keV and 20 MeV in an experimental hall designed with metallic walls for neutron scattering minimisation. The neutrons will be produced by nuclear interaction of accelerated protons or deuterons on thin targets of selected materials. The measuring devices to be characterised will be accurately placed with a fully automated detector transport system. The energy of the neutron field will be validated by time-of-flight experiments and a large set of standard detectors and fluence monitors will be used to determine the neutron fluence references. The scattered neutron fluence and dose equivalent were calculated by the MCNP Monte Carlo code at several measuring points in order to determine their contribution to the neutron field.     

Kerma coefficients for neutron scattering on 12C and 16O at 96 MeV

Recently, many new applications of fast neutrons are emerging or under development, like dose effects due to cosmic ray neutrons for airplane crew, fast neutron cancer therapy, studies of electronics failure induced by cosmic ray neutrons and accelerator-driven incineration of nuclear waste and energy production technologies. In radiation treatment, the kerma (Kinetic energy release in matter) coefficient, which describes the average energy transferred from neutrons to charged particles, is widely used. The kerma coefficient can be calculated from microscopic nuclear data. Nuclear data above 20 MeV are rather scarce, and more complete nuclear data libraries are needed in order to improve the understanding of the processes occurring on a cellular level. About half the dose in human tissue due to fast neutrons comes from proton recoils in neutron-proton (np) scattering, 10-15% from nuclear recoils due to elastic and inelastic neutron scattering and the remaining 35-40% from neutron-induced emission of light ions. Experimental data on elastic and inelastic neutron scattering at 96 MeV from (12)C and (16)O have been obtained recently at The Svedberg Laboratory in Uppsala, Sweden. These data are shown to be relevant for the determination of nuclear recoil kerma coefficients from elastic and inelastic neutron scattering at intermediate energies.     

Neutron production in tissue-like media and shielding materials irradiated with high-energy ion beams

Secondary neutrons produced in high-energy therapeutic ion beams require special attention since they contribute to the dose delivered to patient, both to tumour and to the healthy tissues. Moreover, monitoring of neutron production in the beam line elements and the patient is of importance for radiation protection aspects around ion therapy facility. Monte Carlo simulations of light ion transport in the tissue-like media (water, A-150, PMMA) and materials of interest for shielding devices (graphite, steel and Pb) were performed using the SHIELD-HIT and MCNPX codes. The capability of the codes to reproduce the experimental data on neutron spectra differential both in energy and angle is demonstrated for neutron yield from the thick targets. Both codes show satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. The absorbed dose due to neutrons produced in the water and A-150 phantoms is calculated for proton (200 MeV) and carbon (390 MeV/u) beams. Secondary neutron dose contribution is approximately 0.6% of the total dose delivered to the phantoms by proton beam and at the similar level for both materials. For carbon beam the neutron dose contribution is approximately 1.0 and 1.2% for the water and A-150 phantoms, respectively. The neutron ambient dose equivalent, H(10), was determined for neutrons leaving different shielding materials after irradiation with ions of various energies.     

Monte Carlo calculation of the response function for a He neutron spectrometer

The response of a gridded ³He ionization chamber to monoenergetic neutrons has been calculated using a Monte Carlo approach. The effects of neutron scattering on detector materials, wall effects, recoil continua and background neutrons are included. The calculated results are smoothed according to a peak shape taken from experiment. Response functions in the energy range E_n < 1217 keV are compared to experimental data obtained with the ⁷Li(p, n)⁷Be reaction and to the detector efficiency derived from them.     

Estimating mixed field effects: an application supporting the lack of a non-linear component for chromosome aberration induction by neutrons

The action of neutron fields on biological structures was investigated on the basis of chromosome aberration induction in human cells. Available experimental data on aberration induction by neutrons and their interaction products were reviewed. Present criteria adopted in neutron radiation protection were discussed. The linear coefficient alpha and the quadratic coefficient beta describing dose-response curves for dicentric chromosomes induced by neutrons of different energies were calculated via integration of experimental data on dicentric induction by photons and charged particles into the Monte Carlo transport code FLUKA. The predicted values of the linear coefficients for neutron beams of different energies showed good agreement with the corresponding experimental values, whereas the data themselves indicated that the neutron quadratic coefficient cannot be obtained by 'averaging' the beta values of recoil ions and other nuclear reaction products. This supports the hypothesis that neutron induced aberrations increase substantially linearly with dose, a question that has been object of debate for a long time and is still open.