Determination of Neutron Temperature at Irradiation Positions of IREN

Abstract

he IREN facility, located in the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, is an electron accelerator-driven source of intense pulsed neutrons with thermal and resonance energies. It is designed for the application of neutron time-of-flight spectroscopy, which is utilized for measuring neutron interaction cross sections and conducting elemental analysis through (epi)thermal and resonance neutron activation of samples. For the intended purposes, the precise determination of the neutron temperature at the irradiation positions is crucial. This report introduces a methodology for accurately determining the Maxwellian temperature (TM) of the thermal neutron distribution at the irradiation positions located on the outer wall of IREN’s neutron production target chamber.