Characterization of a neutron collimator for neutron radiography applications

TRIGA Mark II reactor of ENEA's Casaccia research Center (in Italy named RC-1) reached first criticality in 1960 and, after an upgrade completed in 1967, its power was increased till 1 MW. At this power level it is still running, mainly for short mean life time radioisotopes production (for medical purposes) and neutron radiography. In the year 2003 started a program for a new neutron radiography/tomography facility. This facility will utilize the Tangential Channel of the Triga RC-1 reactor. After some preliminary studies and the design, a suitable collimator was installed in the reactor channel. This paper will show the technical description of the facility, some theoretical studies on the collimator design and the experimental characterization of the collimator. Several configurations of the internal filters were arranged and analyzed experimentally