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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
P. K. Sarkar, K. N. Kirthi, A. K. Ganguly
Nuclear Technology | Volume 28 | Number 2 | February 1976 | Pages 270-281
Technical Paper | Technique | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31568
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The proton recoil technique using plastic scintillators is employed to measure fast-neutron spectra. Associated gamma-ray background is eliminated by using various thicknesses of thin scintillators. The method, based on different ranges of electrons and protons in the detector material, is shown to be useful for measuring neutron spectra over an extended energy region. Four scintillator thicknesses are chosen to cover the neutron energy from 1 to 18 MeV, based on practically 100% transmission of Compton-edge electrons. The pulse-height spectra from different detectors are mixed to give a pulse-height spectrum of the “combined” detector. A general purpose unfolding code is developed to unfold the combined pulse-height spectrum using a combined response matrix that results from the mixing of the calculated (Monte Carlo) response functions for the individual detectors. The neutron spectra of different (α,n) sources and of 252Cf spontaneous fission are measured and compared with published data. The technique developed, although used only for a neutron energy up to 14 MeV, can be applied in practice to higher energies.