Gamma-ray and neutron radiography for a pulsed fast neutron analysis cargo inspection system

This paper presents the design, optimization, and characterization of a gamma-ray and neutron radiographic subsystem that was developed for the Pulsed Fast Neutron Analysis (PFNA) cargo inspection system. The PFNA inspection system uses D-D based nanosecond pulsed neutron source to produce three-dimensional elemental content images of cargo. The PFNA neutron source produces gamma rays as well as neutrons. The new radiographic subsystem measures these radiations in an array of plastic scintillators to produce gamma-ray and neutron transmission images of the cargo simultaneously with the PFNA elemental content measurement. Although the radiographic subsystem improves PFNA performance in many forms of contraband detection, it was specifically designed to detect Special Nuclear Material (SNM) in cargo containers and trucks. A feasibility study, including experiments and modeling, was performed to determine the usefulness of neutron and gamma-ray radiography in this application. The study showed that the baseline configuration was useful in cargoes up to 144 g/cm2 thick. In order to improve the subsystem performance, the source output needed to be increased. The neutron and gamma-ray yield and spectrum were measured for a variety of different beam stops. The maximum cargo thickness was increased to 180 g/cm2 by changing the source beam stop from gold to copper and by increasing the detector length to 17.0 cm. An experiment was then performed that determined a 3.5 cm radiographic resolution was adequate for SNM detection. The detector configuration and the source motion were optimized to obtain a resolution of approximately 3.5 cm using the minimal number of detectors (128) and the maximum detector diameter (5.1 cm). A prototype of the final design was built, installed, and tested, and is currently in use at the PFNA test facility. (author)