Design and Applications of a {sup 252}Cf Cold Neutron Source

The goal was to design a source of cold neutrons from such sources as {sup 252}Cf, {sup 241}Am-Be, {sup 244}Cm-Be, or {sup 124}Sb-Be and to find the limitations when such a source is applied to neutron activation analysis. Here, cold neutrons are neutrons with a kinetic energy < 0.01 eV. The initial kinetic energy of most of the neutrons produced from the decay of the {sup 252}Cf nucleus lies in the range from 0.5 to 10 MeV, so moderation is necessary to produce a significant quantity of cold neutrons from these initial neutrons. The same is true for the other three neutron sources. The general design that was selected for the cold neutron source has two moderation regions, and the geometry was restricted to cylindrical symmetry with the sample region along the cylindrical axis. The moderation regions may have different temperatures and may contain different moderating materials. The design tasks are then to find the optimum geometry, moderating materials, and moderating temperatures. A cold neutron flux in the sample region of 2.7 x 10 {sup -3} cold neutrons per source neutron is obtainable in a {sup 252}Cf cold neutron source that has polyethylene as the cold and thermal moderator or more » with trimethylbenzene as the cold moderator and polyethylene as the thermal moderator. The neutron fluxes obtained are probably within 10{percent} of the fluxes that would be obtained in an actual cold neutron source that is based on the model used. This flux of cold neutrons is adequate for sensitive prompt and delayed neutron activation analysis measurements. The results show that a useful flux of cold neutrons can be obtained from small amounts of {sup 252}Cf, {sup 241}Am, {sup 244}Cm, or {sup 124}Sb. « less