Spectral characterization of the epithermal-neutron beam at the Brookhaven medical research reactor

The power burst facility boron neutron capture therapy (PBF/BNCT) program schedule required the use of an epithermal-neutron beam before the PBF would be available. The beam was needed to carry out the acute, dose-tolerance study on healthy canines and the treatment protocol on spontaneous tumor canines. Calculations on available U.S. test reactors confirmed that the Brookhaven medical research reactor (BMRR) would be capable of providing an epithermal-neutron beam with sufficient intensity while limiting the fast-neutron and gamma dose contamination to acceptable levels for the canine irradiation studies. A joint Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL)/Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) program was instituted to design, construct, install, and measure the performance of an epithermal-neutron beam filter for the BMRR. Aluminum oxide was selected as the filter material because it provided the desired neutron spectrum characteristics given the physical constraints of the available BMRR irradiation beam port. Neutron spectrum measurements of the exit beam were undertaken by INEL as a means to evaluate the performance of the new filter and the validity of neutron transport calculations. The preliminary data from activation measurements were presented at the Neutron Beam Design Workshop at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in March 1989. The updated activation results and the proton-recoil measurements are presented in this paper and are compared with predictions derived from a two-dimensional transport calculation