Special nuclear material detection using pulsed neutron interrogation

Pulsed neutron interrogation methods for detection of Special Nuclear Materials are being developed. Fast prompt neutrons from thermal neutron-induced fissions are detected in the time intervals following 100-μs neutron bursts from a pulsed D-T neutron generator operating at 1000 pulses per second. Silicon Carbide semiconductor neutron detectors are used to detect fission neutrons in the 30-840 μs time intervals following each 14-MeV D-T neutron pulse. Optimization of the neutron detectors has led to dramatic reduction of detector background and improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio for Special Nuclear Material detection. Detection of Special Nuclear Materials in the presence of lead, cadmium and plywood shielding has been demonstrated. Generally, the introduction of shielding leads to short thermal neutron die-away times of 100-200 μs or less. The pulsed neutron interrogation method developed allows detection of the neutron signal even when the die-away time is less than 100 μs.