International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Research Applications and Utilization of Accelerators

4-8 May 2009, Vienna
SM/EN-19

Powerful Nanosecond Single-Shot Technique for Detection of Illicit Materials and
Explosives

V.A. Gribkov1,2 and R.A. Miklaszewski3

1A.I. Alikhanov Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Rosatom, Moscow, Russian Federation
1A.A. Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Material Sciences, Moscow, Russia
3Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, Warsaw, Poland

Corresponding Author: gribkovv@yahoo.com

In the report results of several tests of the Nanosecond Impulse Neutron Investigation System (NINIS) intended for a single-shot interrogation technique of characterizing of hidden illicit materials and explosives are presented. The NINIS method is based on use of time–of–flight (TOF) procedure of measuring of neutron energy after their elastic and inelastic scattering on nuclei of elements composing hidden materials [1]. As a neutron source a Dense Plasma Focus device is applied. Very powerful pulses of neutrons (107 through 1011 neurons per pulse having duration about 10 ns) give an opportunity to produce full characterization of the elemental content of a hidden object during just a single pulse of the device (so during about a 1 μs period of the interrogation time of an object) and at the TOF base of only a few meters. Numerical simulation of the technique will be presented. We shall describe results of experimental tests of the operation of his technique:

  1. With pure deuterium DPF chamber’s filling when only 2.5-MeV neutrons are generated.
  2. With deuterium-tritium mixture DPF chamber’s filling when both 2.5-MeV and 14-MeV
    neutrons are generated.
  3. Examples of elemental characterization of test materials at a high neutron yield with a large TOF base (18 m) and at a low neutron yield with a short one (2 m).
  4. Examples of elemental and dimensional characterization of test materials having small and large sizes.
  5. Examples of elemental characterization of test materials having in its content some fissile components.

[1] V.A. Gribkov, R. Miklaszewski, On a possibility of the single-shot detection of hidden objects by using nanosecond impulse neutron inspection system, Acta Phys. Chim. Debr. XXXVIII–XXXIX (2005) 185-193.