Special absorber neutron detector moderator assembly: A new detector system for flux measurements of collimated 2.5 MeV neutrons

A new detector system has been developed for time resolved flux measurements of collimated D-D neutrons in large magnetic confinement fusion experiments. The novel detection concept, called the special absorber neutron detector moderator assembly, is to place a scatterer behind a collimator and to detect the scattered neutrons in a small Bonner sphere. The system has been optimized by means of the Monte Carlo neutron photon transport code (MCNP) simulations and is capable to be extended for a neutron profile camera. First tests and calibration measurements of a system using a 3 in. Bonner sphere have been carried out in the 2.5 MeV neutron field at the accelerator facility of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig. The numerical and experimental results are presented. The measurements differ from the calculated values by a factor of about 1.09. It is questionable if these discrepancies can be explained by differences in the shielding, moderator and detector characteristics employed in the experiment and those assumed in the calculation. This is highlighting the importance of experimentally validating numerical MCNP response function calculations wherever possible.