1
|
Kinoshita N, Noto T, Nakashima H, Kosako K, Kato T, Kuroiwa Y, Kurabe M, Sasaki Y, Torii K, Maeda M, Toh Y, Kimura A, Nakamura S, Endo S, Segawa M. Water contents in aggregates and cement pastes determined by gravimetric analysis and prompt γ-ray analysis. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-023-08776-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
|
2
|
Yan M, Wakabayashi Y, Takamura M, Ikeda Y, Otake Y. Optimization study of chlorine detection sensitivity in concrete based on prompt gamma analysis using 252Cf neutron source. Appl Radiat Isot 2022; 188:110393. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2022.110393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
|
3
|
Zolfaghari M, Masoudi SF, Rahmani F, Fathi A. Thermal neutron beam optimization for PGNAA applications using Q-learning algorithm and neural network. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8635. [PMID: 35606380 PMCID: PMC9126936 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12187-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
As a powerful, non-destructive analysis tool based on thermal neutron capture reaction, prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) indeed requires the appropriate neutron source. Neutrons produced by electron Linac-based neutron sources should be thermalized to be appropriate for PGNAA. As a result, thermalization devices (TDs) are used for the usual fast neutron beam to simultaneously maximize the thermal neutron flux and minimize the non- thermal neutron flux at the beam port of TD. To achieve the desired thermal neutron flux, the optimized geometry of TD including the proper materials for moderators and collimator, as well as the optimized dimensions are required. In this context, TD optimization using only Monte Carlo approaches such as MCNP is a multi-parameter problem and time-consuming task. In this work, multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network has been applied in combination with Q-learning algorithm to optimize the geometry of TD containing collimator and two moderators. Using MLP, both thickness and diameter of the collimator at the beam port of TD have first been optimized for different input electron energies of Linac as well as for moderators’ thickness values and the collimator. Then, the MLP has been learned by the thermal and non-thermal neutron flux simultaneously at the beam port of TD calculated by MCNPX2.6 code. After selecting the optimized geometry of the collimator, a combination of Q-learning algorithm and MLP artificial neural network have been used to find the optimal moderators’ thickness for different input electron energies of Linac. Results verify that the final optimum setup can be obtained based on the prepared dataset in a considerably smaller number of simulations compared to conventional calculation methods as implemented in MCNP.
Collapse
|
4
|
Hramco C, Turlybekuly K, Borzakov S, Gundorin N, Lychagin E, Nehaev G, Muzychka AY, Strelkov A, Teymurov E. Experimental setup for elemental analysis using prompt gamma rays at research reactor IBR-2. NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.net.2022.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
5
|
Garcia-Reyna MG, Vega-Carrillo HR, Vazquez-Bañuelos J, Torres-Cortes CO, Campillo-Rivera GE, Marquez-Mata CA. Prompt gamma-rays in three H-rich moderators exposed to neutrons. PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
6
|
Simulation of the cement measurement based on the pulse DT neutron generator: A Monte Carlo study. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0252078. [PMID: 34125857 PMCID: PMC8202931 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The PGNAA system for the cement measurement was simulated based on Monte Carlo method. The sizes of the moderator and reflector for the 14 MeV DT neutron generator were optimized for fast and thermal neutron outputs. The DT neutron generator was simulated at the pulse mode, and the gamma-ray detector was set as LaBr3(Ce) scintillator. The characteristic peaks of the major elements (Ca, Si, Al, Fe) can be identified from the gamma-ray spectra which induced at the different time intervals of the neutron radiation. For the different thicknesses of the cement sample the ratios of the gamma-ray peaks were observed, and the result showed that when the thickness was between 20 to 30 cm, the ratios became stable. With the ratios, we can calculate the iron modulus, silica modulus and lime saturation factor.
Collapse
|
7
|
Moffatt JE, Payten TB, Tsiminis G, de Prinse TJ, Da Silva Teixeira L, Klantsataya E, Ottaway DJ, Smith BW, Spooner NA. Upconversion Fluorescence in Naturally Occurring Calcium Fluoride. APPLIED SPECTROSCOPY 2021; 75:674-689. [PMID: 33241707 DOI: 10.1177/0003702820979052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Fluorine can negatively interfere with leach and smelting processes during mineral processing. Real-time knowledge of the concentration and mineral hosts of fluorine in a mineral processing ore stream is important to protect process line equipment and product. Currently only offline methods of detection are available. Online sensors that determine specific fluorine-bearing mineral concentration in real-time would enable improved efficiency in processing decisions during mine production. Common excitation wavelengths used for fluorescence studies in minerals frequently provide signals that are not clearly host-specific, and hence of limited utility for mineral identification. We show that upconversion fluorescence, a process in which two or more photons are absorbed and one higher-energy photon is emitted, provides a more host-specific fluorescence output, minimizing spurious signals in complex environments and therefore greatly improving detection thresholds. Natural samples of fluorite (CaF2), a major fluorine host at many mine sites, have been analyzed by near-infrared excitation and have revealed upconversion fluorescence from rare earth inclusions. Upconversion fluorescence was detected in samples with rare earth concentrations as low as one part per million and is therefore considered a potential new sensing modality for real-time fluorite monitoring.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jillian Elizabeth Moffatt
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction, Queensland, Australia
| | - Thomas Bede Payten
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction, Queensland, Australia
| | - Georgios Tsiminis
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction, Queensland, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Thomas Jacob de Prinse
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Lewis Da Silva Teixeira
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction, Queensland, Australia
| | - Elizaveta Klantsataya
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - David John Ottaway
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction, Queensland, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, OzGrav, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | | | - Nigel Antony Spooner
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction, Queensland, Australia
- Defence Science and Technology Group, Edinburgh, Adelaide, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
PIBS: Proton and ion beam spectroscopy for in vivo measurements of oxygen, carbon, and calcium concentrations in the human body. Sci Rep 2020; 10:7007. [PMID: 32332815 PMCID: PMC7181859 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63215-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2019] [Accepted: 03/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Proton and ion beam therapy has proven to benefit tumour control with lower side-effects, mostly in paediatrics. Here we demonstrate a feasible technique for proton and ion beam spectroscopy (PIBS) capable of determining the elemental compositions of the irradiated tissues during particle therapy. This follows the developments in prompt gamma imaging for online range verification and the inheritance from prompt gamma neutron activation analysis. Samples of water solutions were prepared to emulate varying oxygen and carbon concentrations. The irradiation of those samples and other tissue surrogate inserts by protons and ion beams under clinical conditions clearly showed a logarithmic relationship between the target elemental composition and the prompt gamma production. This finding is in line with the known logarithmic dependence of the pH with the proton molar concentration. Elemental concentration changes of 1% for calcium and 2% for oxygen in adipose, brain, breast, liver, muscle and bone-related tissue surrogates were clearly identified. Real-time in vivo measurements of oxygen, carbon and calcium concentrations will be evaluated in a pre-clinical and clinical environment. This technique should have an important impact in the assessment of tumour hypoxia over the course of several treatment fractions and the tracking of calcifications in brain metastases.
Collapse
|
9
|
Sari A, Garti S, Lainé F, Carrel F, Dumazert J, Makil H, Dufour N, Mougel C, Masset A, Mondon L, Boutillon L, Lejeune JP. The Potential of Photon Activation and Neutron Activation Techniques for Fast Soil Characterization. EPJ WEB OF CONFERENCES 2020. [DOI: 10.1051/epjconf/202022509001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In the frame of a partnership between CEA and VINCI, various measurement techniques are applied to soil analysis and tested in different laboratories located at CEA Saclay (France). This paper deals with two nuclear measurement techniques assessed in this project. More specifically, this paper presents the feasibility study carried out for two non-destructive active methods: photon activation and neutron activation. First, some atomic nuclides are activated either by photons or neutrons. Secondly, gamma-rays of specific energies are emitted by activated nuclides and gamma-ray spectrometry enables to identify these activated nuclides. Calibration of the full measurement system with reference samples would enable to quantify the mass of activated nuclides. Irradiations performed for photon activation measurements were conducted using a linear electron accelerator (linac) as the latter enables to generate high-energy photons by Bremsstrahlung thanks to its conversion target. Furthermore, irradiations performed for neutron activation measurements were also conducted with a linac. Indeed, photons may be converted to neutrons by photonuclear reactions using a secondary target. In the frame of this project, experiments were carried out at the SAPHIR platform (CEA Saclay) with a Linatron-M9 VARIAN linac. The electron energy was either 6 or 9 MeV. For neutron activation measurements, a secondary target made of heavy water has been used as neutron source and a polyethylene cell enabled to thermalize neutrons and increase the number of reactions of interest. In this paper, we present the different experimental setups and the measurement protocols established for this feasibility study. We show experimental results obtained with raw material samples coming from three construction sites.
Collapse
|
10
|
The dark shades of the Antikythera Mechanism. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-018-6255-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
|
11
|
Development of boron calibration via hybrid comparator method in prompt gamma activation analysis. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-018-6062-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
|
12
|
Chen H, Chen-Mayer HH, Turkoglu DJ, Riley BK, Draeger E, Polf JP. Spectroscopic Compton imaging of prompt gamma emission at the MeV energy range. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2018; 318:241-246. [PMID: 31327884 DOI: 10.1007/s10967-018-6070-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
This work explores a novel tomographic approach to PGAA that is both quantitative and spatially resolved, adapted from a clinical "proton beam range finder" in which MeV gamma rays are imaged by coincidence measurements of Compton scattered gamma rays with multi-detector arrays. We performed preliminary measurements using a Compton camera made with CdZnTe detector arrays on a series of test samples with high-energy (> 1 MeV) gamma emission lines. 3D image reconstructions were performed on the 2.2 MeV peak from H. The image reconstruction methods were also evaluated using the emission data generated by Monte Carlo simulations under ideal conditions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Haijian Chen
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Danyal J Turkoglu
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Jerimy P Polf
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Weaver JL, Turkoglu D. Natural alteration of 6Li alumino-silicate glass. JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS. JOURNAL DES MATERIAUX NUCLEAIRES 2018; 512:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.09.034. [PMID: 31092955 PMCID: PMC6512992 DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.09.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the chemical durability of neutron shielding materials is necessary when assessing their long-term service potential. In this study, the chemical durability of a 6Li enriched neutron shielding glass that has been exposed to natural, near-operational conditions is assessed by Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) and Neutron Depth Profiling (NDP). These non-destructive, nuclear analysis techniques are sensitive to 6Li, and PGAA is uniquely able to detect H in low quantities in solids. It was determined that the enriched alumino-silicate glass can alter within 2 months of exposure to the natural environment. This exposure resulted in an average surface alteration layer thickness of ≈22 μm. The alteration layer contained ≈47% less 6Li than the bulk glass. Alternatively, a 3 years exposed sample of the glass had a surface alteration depth of ≈30 μm and 6Li depletion levels in the alteration layer were between 47% and 75% less 6Li than the bulk glass. When the alteration layer on the 3 years sample was removed, the H content of the glass's surface was nearly eliminated. This sample also showed variable Li concentrations throughout the alteration volume, which contrasts with near static Li concentration in the alteration volume of the 2 months sample. From these findings it was determined that the depletion in Li at the surface of the glass will not affect the glass's neutron shielding properties, but it may change the mechanical stability of the glass's surface and, due to increased H content in the alteration layer, make it an inappropriate material for the lining of certain neutron analysis instruments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jamie L. Weaver
- Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA
| | - Danyal Turkoglu
- NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA
| |
Collapse
|