Thesis (M.S. in Engineering Science)--University of California, Berkeley, June 1961. / "UCRL-9504." Bibliography: leaves 66-69.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Engineering Science)--University of California, Berkeley, June 1962. / TID-4500 (17th Ed.). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Engineering Science)--University of California, Berkeley, June 1962. / TID-4500 (20th Ed.). Includes bibliographical references.

TOFu (Time-Of-Flight upgrade) is a fully digital data acquisition system based on 1 GSPS, 12 bit digitisers for the TOFOR (Time-Of-Flight spectrometer Optimised for Rate) fusion neutron spectrometer at JET. The system has been assessed, developed and subsequently tested during experimental campaigns at JET. A detailed presentation is provided, describing the electronics setup, as well as solutions to challenges related to time-alignment and synchronisation of the signal lines and digitisers. The system enables kinematic discrimination of spectral background, based on associated time and energy measurements. This technique has been tested with synthetic data, evaluated, and compared to experimental results. The kinematic background discrimination method is shown to provide improvements in signal-to-background ratio of up to 500 % in certain spectral regions. TOFOR is optimised for spectrometry of deuterium-deuterium fusion neutron emission at JET. The primary purpose of TOFu is to enable TOFOR to retain these spectrometric capabilities in the presence of a strong background of high-energy deuterium-tritium fusion emission neutrons, in a forthcoming deuterium-tritium fusion plasma campaign at JET. However, the improvement in signal-to-background ratio also allows for detailed studies of low-intensity spectral components, such as the contribution due to neutrons scattering off the internal wall of the JET tokamak before impinging on the TOFOR sight line. Satisfying experimental results pertaining to this aspect of spectral analysis with TOFu data are shown. Finally, a conceptual backscattering time-of-flight spectrometer, based on deuterated scintillator detectors is presented. The backscattering time-of-flight technique is shown to be able to provide high-resolution spectrometric capabilities of deuterium-tritium fusion plasma neutron emission. Studies with synthetic data are used to demonstrate these capabilities and the effects of the developed background discrimination techniques on deuterium-tritium fusion neutron spectra obtained with the instrument.

The neutron spectrometer TOFOR was installed at JET in 2005 for high-rate observation of neutrons from reactions between two deuterium (D) ions. Neutron spectrometry as a fusion plasma diagnostic technique is invoked to obtain information about the velocity states of fusion fuel ions. Based on neutron spectrometry data, conclusions can be drawn on the efficiency of plasma heating schemes as well as optimization of fuel ion confinement. The quality of TOFOR analysis is found to depend on how well the instrument response function is known; discriminator threshold levels, detector time alignment and electronics broadening are identified as crucial issues. About 19 percent of the neutrons observed with TOFOR have scattered off the JET vessel wall or other structures in the line-of-sight before reaching the instrument, as established through simulations and measurements. A method has been developed to take these neutrons into account in the analysis. TOFOR measurements of fast deuterium distributions are seen to agree with distributions deduced from NPA data, obtained based on an entirely different principle. This serves as validation of the modeling and analysis. Extraordinary statistics in the TOFOR measurements from JET pulses heated with 3rd harmonic RF heating on D beams allow for study of instabilities using neutron emission spectrometry. At ITER, similar studies should be possible on a more regular basis due to higher neutron rates. Observations of neutrons from Be+3He reactions in the TOFOR spectrum from D plasmas heated with fundamental RF tuned to minority 3He raise the question of beryllium neutrons at JET after installation of the ITER-like wall, and at ITER, with beryllium as the plasma facing component. This is especially important for the first few years of ITER operation, where the machine will not yet have been certified as a nuclear facility and should be run in zero-activation mode.

It is possible to obtain information about various properties of the fuel ions deuterium (D) and tritium (T) in a fusion plasma by measuring the neutron emission from the plasma. Neutrons are produced in fusion reactions between the fuel ions, which means that the intensity and energy spectrum of the emitted neutrons are related to the densities and velocity distributions of these ions. This thesis describes different methods for analyzing data from fusion neutron measurements. The main focus is on neutron spectrometry measurements, using data used collected at the tokamak fusion reactor JET in England. Several neutron spectrometers are installed at JET, including the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR and the magnetic proton recoil (MPRu) spectrometer. Part of the work is concerned with the calculation of neutron spectra from given fuel ion distributions. Most fusion reactions of interest – such as the D + T and D + D reactions – have two particles in the final state, but there are also examples where three particles are produced, e.g. in the T + T reaction. Both two- and three-body reactions are considered in this thesis. A method for including the finite Larmor radii of the fuel ions in the spectrum calculation is also developed. This effect was seen to significantly affect the shape of the measured TOFOR spectrum for a plasma scenario utilizing ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) in combination with neutral beam injection (NBI). Using the capability to calculate neutron spectra, it is possible to set up different parametric models of the neutron emission for various plasma scenarios. In this thesis, such models are used to estimate the fuel ion density in NBI heated plasmas and the fast D distribution in plasmas with ICRH.

Proton therapy uses proton beams with energies of 70 – 230 MeV to treat cancerous tumours very effectively, while preserving surrounding healthy tissues as much as possible. During nuclear interactions of these protons with matter, secondary neutrons can be produced. These neutrons can have energies ranging up to the maximum energy of the protons and can thus be particularly difficult to attenuate. In fact, the rooms of a proton therapy facility are generally surrounded by concrete walls of at least ~2 m in thickness, in order to protect the members of the staff and the public from the stray radiation. Today, the design of the shielding walls is generally based on Monte Carlo simulations. Amongst the numerous parameters on which these simulations depend, some are difficult to control and are therefore selected in a conservative manner. Despite these conservative choices, it remains important to carry out accurate neutron dose measurements inside proton therapy facilities, in order to assess the effectiveness of the shielding and the conservativeness of the simulations. There are, however, very few studies in literature which focus on the comparison of such simulations with neutron measurements performed outside the shielding in proton therapy facilities. Moreover, the published measurements were not necessarily acquired with detectors that possess a good sensitivity to neutrons with energies above 20 MeV, while these neutrons actually give an important contribution to the total dose outside the shielding. A first part of this work was dedicated to the study of the energy response function of the WENDI-2, a rem meter that possesses a good sensitivity to neutrons of more than 20 MeV. The WENDI-2 response function was simulated using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX and validation measurements were carried out with 252Cf and AmBe sources as well as high-energy quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams. Then, WENDI-2 measurements were acquired inside and outside four rooms of the proton therapy facility of Essen (Germany). MCNPX simulations, based on the same conservative choices as the original shielding design simulations, were carried out to calculate the neutron spectra and WENDI-2 responses in the measurement positions. A relatively good agreement between the simulations and the measurements was obtained in front of the shielding, whereas overestimates by at least a factor of 2 were obtained for the simulated responses outside the shielding. This confirmed the conservativeness of the simulations with respect to the neutron fluxes transmitted through the walls. Two studies were then carried out to assess the sensitivity of the MCNPX simulations to the defined concrete composition and the selected physics models for proton and neutron interactions above 150 MeV. Both aspects were found to have a significant impact on the simulated neutron doses outside the shielding. Finally, the WENDI-2 responses measured outside the fixed-beam treatment room were also compared to measurements acquired with an extended-range Bonner Sphere Spectrometer and a tissue-equivalent proportional counter. A satisfactory agreement was obtained between the results of the three measurement techniques. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Neutron are emitted from a deuterium plasma with energies around 2.5 MeV. The neutron spectrum is intimately related to the ion velocity distribution of the plasma. As a consequence, the analysis of neutron energy spectra can give information of the plasma rotation, the ion temperature, heating efficiency and fusion power. The upgraded magnetic proton recoil spectrometer (MPRu), based on the thin-foil technique, is installed at the tokamak JET. The upgrade of the spectrometer was done to allow for measurements of deuterium plasmas. This thesis describes the hardware, the data reduction scheme and the kind of fusion plasma parameters that can be estimated from the data of the MPRu. The MPRu data from 3rd harmonic ion cyclotron resonance and beam heating are studied. Other neutron spectrometer techniques are reviewed as well, in particular in the aspect of suitability for neutron emission spectrometry at ITER. Each spectrometer technique is evaluated using synthetic data which is obtained from standard scenarios of ITER. From this evaluation, we conclude that the thin-foil technique is the best technique to measure, e.g., the ion temperature in terms of time resolution.

The neutron plays a central role in numerous fields of physics, a fact that entails a need for methods of measuring neutron energy spectra. In this project, a technique for neutron spectrometry through measurements of neutron-induced radioactivity in activation detectors was developed and tested. The developed technique involves irradiating element samples with neutrons, measuring activation products with a gamma spectrometer, and then performing a neutron spectrum unfolding procedure. The elements indium, iron, magnesium, aluminium, zinc, titanium, and copper were used as activation detectors and irradiated with neutrons from an americium-beryllium (AmBe) neutron source. Subsequent gamma spectrometry was performed with the UGGLA high-purity germanium detector setup at Uppsala University. The GRAVEL unfolding algorithm was implemented in MATLAB and used to unfold neutron spectra based on an initial spectrum guess. The unfolded neutron spectrum agrees well with the expected AmBe spectrum, though some difference between the spectra is attributed to neutron scattering in the irradiation environment. A possible ability to find approximate neutron spectra from inaccurate initial guesses is found, but additional work is needed to understand better how the initial guess affects the result for different neutron sources. Because activation detectors do not require electrical power when measuring neutrons, can be made sensitive to a wide range of neutron energies, and do not detect other types of radiation, future applications could find the developed neutron spectrometry method practical.