An organic scintillator-based radiation portal monitor (RPM) prototype system with imaging capabilities has been developed based on the neutron–gamma emission tomography technique. The technique ...enables rapid detection and precise location of small amounts of special nuclear materials, such as plutonium, using time and energy correlations between fast neutrons and gamma rays from spontaneous fission with low false-alarm rates. These capabilities, in addition to state-of-the-art detection of various gamma-emitting sources, enables the novel imaging RPM concept to efficiently address global security threats from terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The detector approach is simple and versatile and can easily be adapted for different applications in nuclear security, public safety, nuclear emergency response, and radiological surveying. In this work, basic performance parameters of the imaging RPM prototype system developed at KTH have been evaluated.
A novel technique for non-destructive assay (NDA) of radioactive waste called ARCTERIX (Advanced Radwaste Characterisation based on Tomographically Enhanced Radiation Imaging without X-rays) is ...presented. The concept is based on a 3D-tomographic imaging technique for special nuclear materials – neutron-gamma emission tomography (NGET). ARCTERIX takes the NGET principle from its original application area of nuclear security systems into the realm of radioactive waste assay with its special characteristics and challenges. By adding localisation and imaging of SNM inside shielded waste containers to the array of existing techniques used for radioactive waste characterisation, ARCTERIX complements the state of the art in passive and active NDA interrogation methods. It is aimed primarily at the class of mixed, long-lived radioactive waste that is commonly called “legacy” or “historic” waste which has special safety, security and safeguards concerns due to its mixed composition, commonly poor documentation, and the frequent presence of SNM. The ARCTERIX concept provides rapid imaging and characterisation of nuclear materials in radioactive waste with a high degree of automation and high throughput capabilities, making it possible to quickly scan large radioactive waste inventories for the presence of special nuclear materials with minimal manual intervention. The first ARCTERIX prototype system has demonstrated a high technological readiness for the implementation of the technique in a commercial stand-alone system for rapid assessment of radioactive waste drums or in a system operating in conjunction with established techniques.
Classical novae are thermonuclear explosions in stellar binary systems, and important sources of 26Al and 22Na. While γ rays from the decay of the former radioisotope have been observed throughout ...the Galaxy, 22Na remains untraceable. Its half-life (2.6 yr) would allow the observation of its 1.275 MeV γ-ray line from a cosmic source. However, the prediction of such an observation requires good knowledge of its nucleosynthesis. The 22Na(p, γ)23Mg reaction remains the only source of large uncertainty about the amount of 22Na ejected. Its rate is dominated by a single resonance on the short-lived state at 7785.0(7) keV in 23Mg. Here, we propose a combined analysis of particle-particle correlations and velocity-difference profiles to measure femtosecond nuclear lifetimes. The application of this method to the study of the 23Mg states, places strong limits on the amount of 22Na produced in novae and constrains its detectability with future space-borne observatories.
Reduced transition probabilities have been extracted between excited, yrast states in the N=Z+2 nucleus 94Pd. The transitions of interest were observed following decays of the Iπ=14+, Ex=2129-keV ...isomeric state, which was populated following the projectile fragmentation of a 124Xe primary beam at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung accelerator facility as part of FAIR Phase-0. Experimental information regarding the reduced E2 transition strengths for the decays of the yrast 8+ and 6+ states was determined following isomer-delayed Eγ1−Eγ2−△T2,1 coincidence method, using the LaBr3(Ce)-based FATIMA fast-timing coincidence gamma-ray array, which allowed direct determination of lifetimes of states in 94Pd using the Generalized Centroid Difference (GCD) method. The experimental value for the half-life of the yrast 8+ state of 755(106) ps results in a reduced transition probability of B(E2:8→+6+) = 205−25+34 e2 fm4, which enables a precise verification of shell-model calculations for this unique system, lying directly between the N=Z line and the N=50 neutron shell closure. The determined B(E2) value provides an insight into the purity of (g9/2)n configurations in competition with admixtures from excitations between the (lower) N=3pf and (higher) N=4gds orbitals for the first time. The results indicate weak collectivity expected for near-zero quadrupole deformation and an increasing importance of the T=0 proton-neutron interaction at N=48.
The Zirconium (Z = 40) isotopic chain has attracted interest for more than four decades. The abrupt lowering of the energy of the first 2 + state and the increase in the transition strength B(E2; ...21+→01+) going from 98 Zr to 100 Zr has been the first example of “quantum phase transition” in nuclear shapes, which has few equivalents in the nuclear chart. Although a multitude of experiments have been performed to measure nuclear properties related to nuclear shapes and collectivity in the region, none of the measured lifetimes were obtained using the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift method in the γγ -coincidence mode where a gate on the direct feeding transition of the state of interest allows a strict control of systematical errors. This work reports the results of lifetime measurements for the first yrast excited states in 98 - 104 Zr carried out to extract reduced transition probabilities. The new lifetime values in γγ -coincidence and γ -single mode are compared with the results of former experiments. Recent predictions of the Interacting Boson Model with Configuration Mixing, the Symmetry Conserving Configuration Mixing model based on the Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov approach and the Monte Carlo Shell Model are presented and compared with the experimental data.
In-beam y-ray spectroscopy of Ag-94 Pereira-Lopez, X.; Bentley, M. A.; Cederwall, Bo ...
The European physical journal. A, Hadrons and nuclei,
2023, Letnik:
59, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A recoil-beta-tagging experiment has been performed to study the excited T = 0 and T = 1 states in the odd-odd N = Z nucleus Ag-94, populated via the( 40)Ca(Ni-58,1p3n)Ag-94 reaction. The experiment ...was conducted using the MARA recoil separator and JUROGAM3 array at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyv & auml;skyl & auml;. Through correlating fast, high-energy beta decays at the MARA focal plane with prompt gamma rays emitted at the reaction target, a number of transitions between excited states in Ag-94 have been identified. The timing characteristics of these transitions confirm that they fall within decay sequences that feed the short-lived T = 1 ground state of Ag-94. The transitions are proposed to proceed within and between the sets of states with T = 0 and T = 1. Possible correspondence between some of these transitions from analog states in( 94)Pd has been discussed, and shell-model calculations including multipole and monopole electromagnetic effects have been presented, in order to enable predictions of the decay patterns between the T = 0 and T = 1 states and to allow a theoretical set of Coulomb energy differences to be calculated for the A = 94 T = 1 analog states.
The use of passive and active interrogation techniques to evaluate materials concerning their content of special nuclear materials (SNM) is fundamental in fields such as nuclear safeguards and ...security. Detection of fast neutrons and γ rays, which are a characteristic signature of SNM, has several potential advantages compared with the commonly used systems based on thermal and epithermal neutron counters, the most important being the much shorter required coincidence times and the correspondingly reduced rate of background events due to accidental coincidences. Organic scintillators are well suited for this purpose due to their fast timing properties and composition being based on carbon and hydrogen with large elastic scattering cross-sections for fast neutrons. Organic scintillators also have suitable detection efficiency for γ rays and exhibit pulse shape properties which are favorable for distinguishing between neutrons and γ rays. This paper presents experimental results and Monte Carlo simulations for a neutron–neutron and γ-neutron coincidence detection setup for identification and characterization of SNM based on such detectors. The measurements were carried out on different samples of PuO2 material with varying content of 240Pu at the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission, Ispra, Italy. The results demonstrate significant advantages of fast neutron-γ coincidence detection over fast neutron–neutron coincidence counting for certain applications, e.g. for nuclear security systems, even in the presence of moderate amounts of shielding.
