Plutonium metal vs. oxide determination with the pulse-shape-discrimination-capable plastic scintillator EJ-299-33

S. A. Pozzi, M. M. Bourne, J. L. Dolan, K. Polack, C. Lawrence, M. Flaska, S. D. Clarke, A. Tomanin, P. Peerani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Neutron measurements can be used to distinguish plutonium in metal or oxide form, a capability that is of great interest in nuclear nonproliferation, treaty verification, and other applications. This paper describes measurements performed on well-characterized samples of plutonium oxide and plutonium metal using the pulse-shape-discrimination-capable plastic scintillator EJ-299-33. Results are compared to those obtained with a same-sized detector cell using the liquid scintillator EJ-309. The same optimized, digital pulse shape discrimination technique is applied to both detectors and the neutron pulse height distributions are compared. Results show that the EJ-299-33 plastics can be successfully used for plutonium measurements, where the gamma ray to neutron detection ratio is much higher than for typical radioactive sources. Results also show that EJ-299-33 detectors can be used to characterize plutonium samples, specifically to discriminate between plutonium metal and oxide.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)188-192
Number of pages5
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume767
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 11 2014

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Instrumentation

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