Design aspects of a cold neutron irradiator

Design work on a cold-neutron irradiator (CNI) is being pursued at Cornell University. Prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) by means of cold neutron absorption is the objective of the CNI. Using cold neutrons instead of thermal neutrons to cause neutron capture in the sample, the CNI is a logical extension of the concept of a thermal neutron irradiator. Since the neutron capture cross section for most nuclei varies as 1/v, augmentation of the neutron capture reaction rate is achieved in the sample by a factor of ∼2.3. The statistical precision with which one can measure the mass of a particular element in the sample is enhanced in a CNI, in comparison with a thermal neutron irradiator, by a factor of between 2.3 and the square of 2.3. The exact factor by which the statistical precision is enhanced depends on the energy of the PGNAA photopeak at which one is looking and on the extent to which the photon background measured by the photon detector is dominated by either the 252Cf spontaneous fission photons or by the neutron capture photons from the CNI structural materials. Within the context of the optimization of the elemental sensitivity of the CNI system, the CNI must efficiently deliver cold neutrons from the 252Cf fast neutron source to the sample and must efficiently deliver the PGNAA gamma rays of the sample to the high-purity germanium (HPGe) photon detector while maintaining reasonable fast neutron and gamma-ray backgrounds at the detector