Characterization of the NAA No.3 Irradiation Hole at the HANARO Research Reactor for the k0-NAA Method

In the implementation of the k0-based neutron activation analysis (k0-NAA), there are two key experimental performances, i.e. the characterization of the neutron irradiation facility and the calibration of the gamma-ray spectrometer. The characterization of the irradiation facility is to determine the neutron spectrum parameters at the irradiation hole. The neutron spectrum parameters considered in this context are the deviation of the epithermal neutron flux distribution from the ideal 1/E law by a 1/E1+α shape (α), the ratio of the thermal to epithermal neutron flux (f), the ratio of the thermal to fast neutron flux (fF) to evaluate interferences by threshold reactions, the neutron temperature (Tn) used for nuclides with the Westcott's g-factor different from unity. The neutron spectrum parameters change with the reactor configuration and the irradiation hole position. Therefore, the characterization of the NAA No.3 irradiation hole at the HANARO reactor is required once applying the k0-NAA method