Simulations of the cosmic-ray-induced neutron background

Author

Becchetti, Marc F. ; Ide, Kiyotaka ; Poitrasson-Riviere, Alexis ; Hamel, Michael C. ; Polack, J.K. ; Scarpelli, Matthew L. ; Clarke, Shaun D. ; Flaska, M. ; Pozzi, S.A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Nucl. Eng. & Radiol. Sci., Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

Oct. 27 2012-Nov. 3 2012

Firstpage

211

Lastpage

214

Abstract

A method for simulating the cosmic-ray-induced neutron background at ground level has been developed. This method was used to obtain the expected pulse height distributions, net neutron rates, and angular distribution using EJ-309 liquid scintillators, and has been validated using outdoor measurements. The simulations were carried out using the Monte Carlo transport code MCNPX-PoliMi combined with the source subroutine CRY. The absolute count rates for neutrons were then obtained from the simulations using an empirical scaling formula from literature. Preliminary measurements of the angular distribution of background neutrons were done using a collimated EJ-309 liquid scintillator, showing fair agreement with simulations.

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; cosmic ray neutrons; liquid scintillation detectors; neutron detection; pulse height analysers; subroutines; CRY; EJ-309 liquid scintillators; MCNPX-PoliMi; Monte Carlo transport code; absolute count rates; angular distribution; collimated EJ-309 liquid scintillator; cosmic-ray-induced neutron background simulations; empirical scaling formula; net neutron rates; outdoor measurements; pulse height distributions; source subroutine;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC), 2012 IEEE

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

1082-3654

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-2028-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.2012.6551095

Filename

6551095