Measurement of nitrogen in explosives using nuclear techniques

Nitrogen content of explosives has been measured using thermal neutron activation (TNA) method. A 252Cf neutron source, together with 3 BGO detectors, have been employed in this measurement. The results reported here demonstrate that with a rather sample set-up one can reliably detect 12 gr of nitrogen in the VS-50 (antipersonnel landmine) with a modest neutron flux and in a reasonable time. BGO detectors were shown to be superior for detection of 10.8 MeV gamma ray resulting in radiative capture of thermal neutron in nitrogen. (author)