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Design of a novel instrument for active neutron interrogation of artillery shells

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  • Camille Bélanger-Champagne
  • Hannes Vainionpää
  • Pauli Peura
  • Harri Toivonen
  • Paula Eerola
  • Peter Dendooven

Abstract

The most common explosives can be uniquely identified by measuring the elemental H/N ratio with a precision better than 10%. Monte Carlo simulations were used to design two variants of a new prompt gamma neutron activation instrument that can achieve this precision. The instrument features an intense pulsed neutron generator with precise timing. Measuring the hydrogen peak from the target explosive is especially challenging because the instrument itself contains hydrogen, which is needed for neutron moderation and shielding. By iterative design optimization, the fraction of the hydrogen peak counts coming from the explosive under interrogation increased from 53 - 7 + 7% to 74 - 10 + 8% (statistical only) for the benchmark design. In the optimized design variants, the hydrogen signal from a high-explosive shell can be measured to a statistics-only precision better than 1% in less than 30 minutes for an average neutron production yield of 109 n/s.

Suggested Citation

  • Camille Bélanger-Champagne & Hannes Vainionpää & Pauli Peura & Harri Toivonen & Paula Eerola & Peter Dendooven, 2017. "Design of a novel instrument for active neutron interrogation of artillery shells," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(12), pages 1-23, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0188959
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188959
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nadia Cherubini & Alessandro Dodaro & Giada Gandolfo & Luigi Lepore & Giuseppe A. Marzo & Ermanno Piccinelli & Romolo Remetti, 2016. "Field Prototype of the ENEA Neutron Active Interrogation Device for the Detection of Dirty Bombs," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-9, October.
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