The use of a Gamma Sensitive Detector to Measure Thermal Reactor Power

A study was made of the feasibility of measuring power output of a thermal reactor with a gamma sensitive detector. Shielding was used to selectively attenuate gammas from fission products as compared to(n,r) reactions and prompt fission gammas. Measurements indicate agreement between detector response and reactor power output, determined independently, over more than three decades. There is evidence that effects of local neutron flux perturbations, seen by neutron chambers, are ignored by the gamma detector.