1. |
- Andersson, Peter, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Design and initial 1D radiography tests of the FANTOM mobile fast-neutron radiography and tomography system
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 756, s. 82-93
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The FANTOM system is a tabletop sized fast-neutron radiography and tomography system newly developed at the Applied Nuclear Physics Division of Uppsala University. The main purpose of the system is to provide time-averaged steam-and-water distribution measurement capability inside the metallic structures of two-phase test loops for Light Water Reactor thermal-hydraulic studies using a portable fusion neutron generator. The FANTOM system provides a set of 1D neutron transmission data, which may be inserted into tomographic reconstruction algorithms to achieve a 2D mapping of the steam-and-water distribution. In this paper, the selected design of FANTOM is described and motivated. The detector concept is based on plastic scintillator elements, separated for spatial resolution. Analysis of pulse heights on an event-to-event basis is used for energy discrimination. Although the concept allows for close stacking of a large number of detector elements, this demonstrator is equipped with only three elements in the detector and one additional element for monitoring the yield from the neutron generator. The first measured projections on test objects of known configurations are presented. These were collected using a Sodern Genie 16 neutron generator with an isotropic yield of about 1E8 neutrons per second, and allowed for characterization of the instrument’s capabilities. At an energy threshold of 10 MeV, the detector offered a count rate of about 500 cps per detector element. The performance in terms of spatial resolution was validated by fitting a Gaussian Line Spread Function to the experimental data, a procedure that revealed a spatial unsharpness in good agreement with the predicted FWHM of 0.5 mm.
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2. |
- Andersson, Peter, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of proton escape on detection efficiency in thin scintillator elements and its consequences for optimization of fast-neutron imaging
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 651:1, s. 110-116
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plastic scintillators are commonly used for neutron detection in the MeV energy range, based on n–p scattering and the subsequent deposition of recoil proton's kinetic energy in the detector material. This detection procedure gives a quasi-rectangular energy deposition distribution for mono-energetic neutrons, extending from zero to the neutron energy. However, if the detector sensitive element (DSE) is small, the energy deposition may be incomplete due to the recoil proton escape.In the application of neutron imaging, here exemplified by fast-neutron tomography, two conflicting requirements have been identified: (1) thin DSEs are required to obtain high spatial resolution and (2) energy discrimination may be required to reduce the influence of neutrons being scattered into the DSEs, which generally occurs at lower energies. However, at small DSE widths, the reduction of energy deposition due to recoil proton escape may cause a significant decrease in detection efficiency when energy discrimination is applied.In this work, energy deposition distributions in small-size DSEs have been simulated for Deuterium–Deuterium (DD; 2.5 MeV) and Deuterium–Tritium (DT; 14.1 MeV) fusion neutrons. The intrinsic efficiency has been analyzed as a function of energy discrimination level for various detector widths. The investigations show that proton recoil escape causes a significant drop in intrinsic detection efficiency for thin DSEs. For DT neutrons, the drop is 10% at a width of 3.2 mm and 50% at a width of 0.6 mm, assuming an energy threshold at half the incident neutron energy. The corresponding widths for a DD detector are 0.17 and 0.03 mm, respectively.Finally, implications of the proton escape effect on the design of a fast-neutron tomography device for void distribution measurements at Uppsala University are presented. It is shown that the selection of DSE width strongly affects the instrument design when optimizing for image unsharpness.
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3. |
- Andersson Sundén, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of neutron spectrometer techniques for ITER using synthetic data
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 701, s. 62-71
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A neutron spectrometer at ITER is expected to provide estimates of plasma parameters such as ion temperature, Ti, fuel ion ratio, nt/nd, and Qthermal/Qtot, with 10-20% precision at a time resolution, Δt, of at least 100 ms. The present paper describes a method for evaluating different neutron spectroscopy techniques based on their instrumental response functions and synthetic measurement data. We include five different neutron spectrometric techniques with realistic response functions, based on simulations and measurements where available. The techniques are magnetic proton recoil, thin-foil proton recoil, gamma discriminating organic scintillator, diamond and time-of-flight. The reference position and line of sight of a high resolution neutron spectrometer on ITER are used in the study. ITER plasma conditions are simulated for realistic operating scenarios. The ITER conditions evaluated are beam and radio frequency heated and thermal deuterium-tritium plasmas. Results are given for each technique in terms of the estimated time resolution at which the parameter determination can be made within the required precision (here 10% for Ti and the relative intensities of NB and RF emission components). It is shown that under the assumptions made, the thin-foil techniques out-perform the other spectroscopy techniques in practically all measurement situations. For thermal conditions, the range of achieved Δt in the determination of Ti varies in time scales from ms (for the magnetic and thin-foil proton recoil) to s (for gamma discriminating organic scintillator).
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4. |
- Andersson Sundén, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Instrumentation for neutron emission spectrometry in use at JET
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 623:2, s. 681-685
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present contribution discusses two neutron spectrometers: the time-of-flight spectrometer (TOFOR) and the magnetic proton recoil spectrometer (MPRu). TOFOR uses fast plastic scintillators equipped with digital time-stamping electronics to register the time of each eligible scintillation event. The time trace for each detector is acquired practically dead-time free. The detectors of the MPRu are of phoswich type and each detector is connected to a digital transient recorder card that stores the full waveform for an event. By using phoswich detectors, pulse-shape discrimination techniques can be applied offline to distinguish signal events from background. A future upgrade of TOFOR could be digital “hybrid” cards, which store correlated time and waveform information. This information can be used to decrease the background level in the ttof spectrum, thereby increasing the operating range.
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5. |
- Andersson Sundén, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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The thin-foil magnetic proton recoil neutron spectrometer MPRu at JET
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 610:3, s. 682-699
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neutrons are produced in fusion energy experiments with both deuterium (D) and deuterium–tritium (DT) plasmas. Neutron spectroscopy is a valuable tool in the study of the underlying fuel ion populations. The magnetic proton recoil neutron spectrometer, originally installed at JET in 1996 for 14-MeV neutron measurements, has been upgraded, with the main aim of improving its signal-to-background ratio (S/B), making measurements of the 2.5-MeV neutron emission in D plasmas possible. The upgrade includes a new focal-plane detector, based on the phoswich technique and consequently less sensitive to background, and a new custom-designed digital data acquisition system based on transient recorder cards. Results from JET show that the upgraded MPRu can measure 2.5-MeV neutrons with S/B=5, an improvement by a factor of 50 compared with the original MPR. S/B of 2.8×104 in future DT experiments is estimated. The performance of the MPRu is exemplified with results from recent D plasma operations at JET, concerning both measurements with Ohmic, ion cyclotron resonance (ICRH) and neutral beam injection (NBI) plasma heating, as well as measurements of tritium burn-up neutrons. The upgraded instrument allows for 2.5-MeV neutron emission and deuterium ion temperature measurements in plasmas with low levels of tritium, a feature necessary for the ITER experiment.
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6. |
- Bläckberg, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Investigations of surface coatings to reduce memory effect in plastic scintillator detectors used for radioxenon detection
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 656:1, s. 84-91
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this work Al(2)O(3) and SiO(2) coatings are tested as Xe diffusion barriers on plastic scintillator substrates. The motivation is improved beta-gamma coincidence detection systems, used to measure atmospheric radioxenon within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. One major drawback with the current setup of these systems is that the radioxenon tends to diffuse into the plastic scintillator material responsible for the beta detection, resulting in an unwanted memory effect. Here, coatings with thicknesses between 20 and 900 nm have been deposited onto plastic scintillators, and investigated using two different experimental techniques. The results show that all tested coatings reduce the Xe diffusion into the plastic. The reduction is observed to increase with coating thickness for both coating materials. The 425 nm Al(2)O(3) coating is the most successful one, presenting a diffusion reduction of a factor 100, compared to uncoated plastic. In terms of memory effect reduction this coating is thus a viable solution to the problem in question.
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7. |
- Bläckberg, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Memory effect, resolution, and efficiency measurements of an Al2O3 coated plastic scintillator used for radioxenon detection
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 714, s. 128-135
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A cylindrical plastic scintillator cell, used for radioxenon monitoring within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, has been coated with 425 nm Al2O3 using low temperature Atomic Layer Deposition, and its performance has been evaluated. The motivation is to reduce the memory effect caused by radioxenon diffusing into the plastic scintillator material during measurements, resulting in an elevated detection limit. Measurements with the coated detector show both energy resolution and efficiency comparable to uncoated detectors, and a memory effect reduction of a factor of 1000. Provided that the quality of the detector is maintained for a longer period of time, Al2O3 coatings are believed to be a viable solution to the memory effect problem in question.
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8. |
- Gatu Johnson, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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The 2.5-MeV neutron time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR for experiments at JET
- 2008
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 591:2, s. 417-430
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometer for measurement of the 2.5-MeV neutron emission from fusion plasmas has been developed and put into use at the JET tokamak. It has been optimized for operation at high rates (TOFOR) for the purpose of performing advanced neutron emission spectroscopy (NES) diagnosis of deuterium plasmas with a focus on the fuel ion motional states for different auxiliary heating scenarios. This requires operation over a large dynamic range, including high rates of > 100 kHz with a maximum value of 0.5 MHz for the TOFOR design. This paper describes the design principles and their technical realization. The performance is illustrated with recent neutron TOF spectra recorded for plasmas subjected to different heating scenarios. A true event count rate of 39 kHz has been achieved at about a tenth of the expected neutron yield limit of JET, giving a projected maximum of 400 kHz at peak JET plasma yield. This means that the count rate capability for NES diagnosis of D plasmas has been improved more than an order of magnitude. Another important performance factor is the spectrometer bandwidth, where data have been acquired and analyzed successfully with a response function for neutrons over the energy range 1 to > 5 MeV. The implications of instrumental advancement represented by TOFOR are discussed.
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9. |
- Helgesson, Petter, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Sampling of systematic errors to estimate likelihood weights in nuclear data uncertainty propagation
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 807, s. 137-149
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In methodologies for nuclear data (ND) uncertainty assessment and propagation based on random sampling, likelihood weights can be used to infer experimental information into the distributions for the ND. As the included number of correlated experimental points grows large, the computational time for the matrix inversion involved in obtaining the likelihood can become a practical problem. There are also other problems related to the conventional computation of the likelihood, e.g., the assumption that all experimental uncertainties are Gaussian. In this study, a way to estimate the likelihood which avoids matrix inversion is investigated; instead, the experimental correlations are included by sampling of systematic errors. It is shown that the model underlying the sampling methodology (using univariate normal distributions for random and systematic errors) implies a multivariate Gaussian for the experimental points (i.e., the conventional model). It is also shown that the likelihood estimates obtained through sampling of systematic errors approach the likelihood obtained with matrix inversion as the sample size for the systematic errors grows large. In studied practical cases, it is seen that the estimates for the likelihood weights converge impractically slowly with the sample size, compared to matrix inversion. The computational time is estimated to be greater than for matrix inversion in cases with more experimental points, too. Hence, the sampling of systematic errors has little potential to compete with matrix inversion in cases where the latter is applicable. Nevertheless, the underlying model and the likelihood estimates can be easier to intuitively interpret than the conventional model and the likelihood function involving the inverted covariance matrix. Therefore, this work can both have pedagogical value and be used to help motivating the conventional assumption of a multivariate Gaussian for experimental data. The sampling of systematic errors could also be used in cases where the experimental uncertainties are not Gaussian, and for other purposes than to compute the likelihood, e.g., to produce random experimental data sets for a more direct use in ND evaluation.
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10. |
- Obryk, B., et al.
(författare)
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TLD calibration for neutron fluence measurements at JET fusion facility
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : ELSEVIER. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 904, s. 202-213
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Measurements of neutron streaming through penetrations in biological shields are being carried out at JET fusion device by means of thermoluminescence (TL) detectors with the objective to validate the neutronics codes and nuclear data widely applied in ITER nuclear analyses in a real fusion environment. TLDs response due to the neutron component of the radiation field is related to the neutron fluence in a well-defined neutron energy spectrum. Therefore, a TLDs calibration in real fusion radiation fields is necessary to allow neutron fluence from TL measurements at JET to be more precisely calculated. Hence, a MCP-N and MCP-7 TLDs produced at the IFJ PAN in Krakow were calibrated at the ENEA facilities of Frascati and Casaccia laboratories. The obtained results have been analysed and new calibration factors are proposed. The detection system based on TLDs developed and calibrated for JET experiments can then be generally applied not only to fusion neutron fields, but also to ITER to monitor the neutron fluence outside the biological shield.
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