Neutron emission during heavy water electrolysis

The emission of fast neutrons by recoil protons (0.02-3 MeV energies) during the electrolysis of heavy water was studied experimentally using iron, stainless steel, titanium, titanium-vanadium, platinum and palladium cathodes. Normal low-background measuring equipment was used with a proportional methane counter, volume 4 L, pressure 2 x 105 N/m2 which was calibrated with a californium source of 2 x 107 n/s; the registration efficiency was 7%. Statistical processing of the results using the Student criterion failed to detect any neutron flux of more than 0.04 n/s from our various conditions of electrolysis with a reliability of 99.9%. (author)