Click here to view fulltext PDF

Permanent link:
https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/pram/080/05/0873-0885

Thermal neutron flux; foil activation; indium foils; cadmium difference method; Geiger–Muller counter; NaI(Tl).

The term `thermal flux' implies a Maxwellian distribution of velocity and energy corresponding to the most probable velocity of 2200 ms^-1 at 293.4 K. In order to measure the thermal neutron flux density, the foil activation method was used. Thermal neutron flux determination in paraffin phantom by counting the emitted rays of indium foils with two different detectors (Geiger–Muller counter and NaI(Tl)) was the aim of this project. The relative differences of the outcome of the experiments were between 2.5% and 5%. The final results were compared with MCNP4C outputs and the best agreement was generated using NaI(Tl) by a minimum discrepancy of about 0.6% for the foil placed 8.5 cm from the neutron source.

Parisa Akhlaghi¹ Laleh Rafat-Motavalli¹ Seyed Hashem Miri-Hakimabad¹

1. Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Azadi Square 91775-1436, Mashhad, Iran

Published

May 2013

Manuscript received

15 July 2012

Manuscript revised

16 November 2012

Accepted

6 December 2012