Development of fission chamber for nuclear reactors controlling

Fission Chambers are gas-filled type detectors that operate in the ionization chamber regime, which is without electron multiplication. As the fill-gas is not directly ionized by neutrons, fission chambers are lined with fissile material that through interaction with neutrons fission products are produced, are highly ionizing particles. Pulse type operation of these detectors are used for neutron flux measurements during start up and shut-down reactor conditions in which pulses of high amplitude produced by fission products can be easily discriminated from those produced by alpha radiation from uranium and also from the external gamma field. With current or current fluctuation mode operation (Campbell) the use of these detectors can be extended for the whole range of reactor operation. In this work, it is presented the development and construction of a fission chamber at IPEN-CNEN/SP. Furthermore, the material and techniques used and also the operational characteristics obtained with the first prototype are given. (author)