Bochum 2009 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Hadronen und Kerne

HK 76: Accelerators and Instrumentation II

HK 76.7: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2009, 18:30–18:45, H-ZO 90

Characterization of lanthanum-chloride detectors for prompt fission γ-ray measurements — •Andreas Oberstedt¹, Stephan Oberstedt², and Wouter Geerts² — ¹Örebro University, S-70182 Örebro — ²EC-JRC IRMM, B-2440 Geel

A particular challenge for the modelling of new generation reactor neutron kinetics is the calculation of the γ-heat deposition in e. g. steel and ceramics reflectors without UO₂ blankets, which is required to be known with an uncertainty as low as 7.5%. A major difficulty in measuring the competition between neutron and γ-ray emission during fission fragment deexcitation is the suppression of background γ-rays induced by prompt fission neutrons in the γ-detector. A common method is to distinguish between γ-rays and neutrons by their respective different time-of-flight, which however is limited by the timing resolution of the detector (not better than 5 ns for NaI). A promising approach seems to be the use of recently developed cerium-doped lanthanum halide crystal scintillation detectors. We will present results of the characterization of coaxial 1.5″ × 1.5″ LaCl₃:Ce detectors in terms of energy conversion and resolution, linearity, dynamical range, intrinsic efficiency, timing resolution and intrinsic radioactivity.