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No description available.

A fast neutron spectrometer was designed and constructed using a proton-recoil telescope. Recoil protons from a thin foil of polyethylene were detected with a silicon surface-barrier diode. The output pulse from the detector is proportional to the energy of the protons and hence the energy of the incident neutrons. The spectrometer was used to obtain pulse height spectra from various sources of fast neutrons including the V.P.I. reactor and the d-d reaction using the Cockroft-Walton accelerator. Results obtained indicate that for high intensity sources the spectrometer is capable of providing high resolution energy spectra although modification is necessary in some cases to reduce background. The compactness of the instrument and its simplicity make it ideal for investigating sources that are not readily amenable to other techniques. / Master of Science

Neste trabalho, medidas microdosimétricas foram realizadas usando um contador proporcional equivalente à tecido - TEPC. com uma cavidade esférica de diâmetro de 1.27 cm. O TEPC foi preenchido com gás propane puro, C3HS, à pressão de 5,6 kPa (42 Torr), que é equivalente a 1,3 μm em diâmetro de unidade de densidade do tecido. O instrumento de medida microdosimétrica foi irradiado com radiação de nêutrons rápidos do reator de pequisa do Nuclear Science Center da Texas A&M University, em College Station,-Texas. Os feixes de nêutrons rápidos foram emitidos com três diferentes valores de potência. 0,5, 1,0, e 2,0 kVV, durante 1 hora para alto ganho e o mesmo tempo para baixo ganho, totalizando 2 horas para cada potência, com 0,0083 Gy/min de taxa de dose. O neutron foi filtrado usando o sistema de irradiação de néutrons rápidos fortemente nitrados (FNIS). do Nuclear Science Center, para obter uma redução da contaminação da radiação de neutron por radiação gama e assim obter espectros microdosimetricos de neutrons como, distribuição de freqüência de energia lineal e distribuição de dose de energia lineal, com boa precisão, e outras grandezas como, freqüência média de energia lineal, dose média de energia lineal, dose absorvida, dose equivalente e fator de qualidade médio de neutron rápido. Os resultados obtidos foram satisfatórios, com os espectros microdosimetricos de nêutrons mostrando uma contaminação de radiação gama abaixo de 5 %, especialmente para distribuição de dose de energia lineal. Os resultados obtidos neste trabalho foram comparados com outros da literatura científica, que usaram outros procedimentos para a redução da contaminação do neutron por radiação gama. estando em concordância com eles. / In this work, microdosimetric measurements were performed using a Wall-less Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter - TEPC was filled with spherical cavity with an inner diameter of 1.27 cm. The TEPC was tilled with pure propane gas, C3H8 at 5.6 kPa (42 Torr) pressure, which is equi\\alent to 1.3μm in diameter of unit density tissue. The microdosimetric measurement device was irradiated with fast neutron radiation from Texas A&M University Nuclear Science Center research reactor, in College Station, Texas. The fast neutron beams were emitted with three different power values, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 kW. during Ih for both high gain and low gain, totalizing two hours for each power with 0.0083 Gy/min of dose rate. The neutron was filtered using the heavily filtered fast neutron irradiation s\\stem (FNIS). from Nuclear Science Center, to obtain a decrease of neutron radiation contamination by gamma ray and so, to gain the neutron microdosimetric spectra as. frequency distribution of lineal energy, dose distribution of lineal energy with good precision, and another quantities as frequency-mean of lineal energy, dose- mean of lineal energy, absorbed dose, equivalent dose and average quality factor of fast neutron. The obtained results were satisfactory, with the neutron microdosimetric spectra showing a gamma ray contamination under 5 %, especially to dose distribution of lineal energy. The results obtained in this work were in agreement when compared with another results from scientific literature, which used another procedure to reduce the neutron contamination by gamma ray.

Neste trabalho, medidas microdosimétricas foram realizadas usando um contador proporcional equivalente à tecido - TEPC. com uma cavidade esférica de diâmetro de 1.27 cm. O TEPC foi preenchido com gás propane puro, C3HS, à pressão de 5,6 kPa (42 Torr), que é equivalente a 1,3 μm em diâmetro de unidade de densidade do tecido. O instrumento de medida microdosimétrica foi irradiado com radiação de nêutrons rápidos do reator de pequisa do Nuclear Science Center da Texas A&M University, em College Station,-Texas. Os feixes de nêutrons rápidos foram emitidos com três diferentes valores de potência. 0,5, 1,0, e 2,0 kVV, durante 1 hora para alto ganho e o mesmo tempo para baixo ganho, totalizando 2 horas para cada potência, com 0,0083 Gy/min de taxa de dose. O neutron foi filtrado usando o sistema de irradiação de néutrons rápidos fortemente nitrados (FNIS). do Nuclear Science Center, para obter uma redução da contaminação da radiação de neutron por radiação gama e assim obter espectros microdosimetricos de neutrons como, distribuição de freqüência de energia lineal e distribuição de dose de energia lineal, com boa precisão, e outras grandezas como, freqüência média de energia lineal, dose média de energia lineal, dose absorvida, dose equivalente e fator de qualidade médio de neutron rápido. Os resultados obtidos foram satisfatórios, com os espectros microdosimetricos de nêutrons mostrando uma contaminação de radiação gama abaixo de 5 %, especialmente para distribuição de dose de energia lineal. Os resultados obtidos neste trabalho foram comparados com outros da literatura científica, que usaram outros procedimentos para a redução da contaminação do neutron por radiação gama. estando em concordância com eles. / In this work, microdosimetric measurements were performed using a Wall-less Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter - TEPC was filled with spherical cavity with an inner diameter of 1.27 cm. The TEPC was tilled with pure propane gas, C3H8 at 5.6 kPa (42 Torr) pressure, which is equi\\alent to 1.3μm in diameter of unit density tissue. The microdosimetric measurement device was irradiated with fast neutron radiation from Texas A&M University Nuclear Science Center research reactor, in College Station, Texas. The fast neutron beams were emitted with three different power values, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 kW. during Ih for both high gain and low gain, totalizing two hours for each power with 0.0083 Gy/min of dose rate. The neutron was filtered using the heavily filtered fast neutron irradiation s\\stem (FNIS). from Nuclear Science Center, to obtain a decrease of neutron radiation contamination by gamma ray and so, to gain the neutron microdosimetric spectra as. frequency distribution of lineal energy, dose distribution of lineal energy with good precision, and another quantities as frequency-mean of lineal energy, dose- mean of lineal energy, absorbed dose, equivalent dose and average quality factor of fast neutron. The obtained results were satisfactory, with the neutron microdosimetric spectra showing a gamma ray contamination under 5 %, especially to dose distribution of lineal energy. The results obtained in this work were in agreement when compared with another results from scientific literature, which used another procedure to reduce the neutron contamination by gamma ray.

The use of organic scintillators is an established method for the measurement of neutron spectra above several hundred keV. Fast neutrons are detected largely by proton recoils in the scintillator resulting from neutron elastic scattering with hydrogen. This leads to a smeared rectangular pulse-height distribution for monoenergetic neutrons. The recoil proton distribution ranges in energy from zero to the incident neutron energy. In addition, the pulse-height distribution is further complicated by structure due to energy deposition from alpha particle recoils from interactions with carbon as well as carbon recoils themselves. In order to reconstruct the incident neutron spectrum, the pulse-height spectrum has to be deconvoluted (unfolded) using the computed or measured response of the scintillator to monoenergetic neutrons. In addition gamma rays, which are always present when neutrons are present, lead to Compton electron recoils in the scintillator. Fortunately, for certain organic scintillators, the electron recoil events can be separated from the heavier particle recoil events in turn to distinguish gamma-ray induced events from neutron-induced events. This is accomplished by using the risetime of the pulse from the organic scintillator seen in the photomultiplier tube as a decay of light. In this work, an organic scintillator detection system was assembled which includes neutron-gamma separation capabilities to store the neutron-induced and gamma-induced recoil spectra separately. An unfolding code was implemented to deconvolute the spectra into neutron and gamma energy spectra. In order to verify the performance of the system, a measurement of two reference neutron fields will be performed with the system, unmoderated Cf-252 and heavy-water moderated Cf-252. After the detection system has been verified, measurements will be made with an AmBe neutron source.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:53:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:58:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

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