Determination of the neutron energy and spatial distributions of the neutron beam from the TSR-II in the large beam shield

The TSR-II reactor of the ORNL Tower Shielding Facility has recently been relocated within a new, fixed shield. A principal feature of the new shield is a beam port of considerably larger area than that of its predecessor. The usable neutron flux has thereby been increased by a factor of approximately 200. The bare beam neutron spectrum behind the new shield has been experimentally determined over the energy range from 0.8 to 16 MeV. A high level of fission product gamma ray background prevented measurement of bare beam spectra below 0.8 MeV, however neutron spectra in the energy range from 8 keV to 1.4 MeV were obtained for two simple, calculable shielding configurations. Also measured in the present work were weighted integral flux distributions and fast neutron dose rates. (auth)