| Paper | Title | Page |
|---|---|---|
WEPPC062 |
First Measurements of Thermal Neutron Flux in the Accelerator Based Photo-Neutron Source | |
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| The Photo-Neutron Source (PNS) project is a study regarding to design, simulation and construction an accelerator based neutron source for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). The system uses output electrons from medical linear accelerator and converts them into a neutron field through bremsstrahlung and photoneutron interactions. The aim of the project is producing an appropriate thermal neutron field for BNCT. The FLUKA code is utilized for all design and simulations. In addition to the computational researches, a prototype of PNS system is built to approve its efficiency in practice. We use a Varian2300 C/D linear accelerator with 20 MeV electrons for the experiments and the neutron detectors in this work are borated polycarbonate sheets (CR-39) and Uranium shale. The primary results shows a high flux neutron spectrum, in the range of thermal to fast neutrons. The total neutron flux is in the order of 107-108 (n/cm2.s) and there is a significant peak in thermal neutron region. Regarding its promising characteristics, this neutron source can be widely used in neutron studies such as neutron activation and basic BNCT researches. | ||