# 2015 CAP Congress / Congrès de l'ACP 2015

13-19 June 2015
University of Alberta
America/Edmonton timezone
Welcome to the 2015 CAP Congress! / Bienvenue au congrès de l'ACP 2015!

## Neutron Generator Facility at SFU - GEANT4 Dose Prediction and Verification

15 Jun 2015, 14:15
15m
CCIS L1-047 (University of Alberta)

### CCIS L1-047

#### University of Alberta

Oral (Student, In Competition) / Orale (Étudiant(e), inscrit à la compétition) Nuclear Physics / Physique nucléaire (DNP-DPN)

### Speaker

Mr Jonathan Williams (Simon Fraser University)

### Description

A neutron generator facility under development at Simon Fraser University (SFU) utilizes a commercial deuterium- tritium neutron generator (Thermo Scientific P 385) to produce 14.2 MeV neutrons at a nominal rate of $3\times10^8$ neutrons/s. The facility will be used to produce radioisotopes to support a research program including nuclear structure studies and neutron activation analysis. As a prerequisite for regular operation of the facility and as a personnel safety consideration, dose rate predictions for the facility were implemented via the GEANT4 Monte-Carlo framework. Dose rate predictions were compared at two low neutron energy cutoffs: 5 keV and 1 meV, with the latter accounting for low energy thermal neutrons but requiring significantly more computation time. As the SFU facility geometry contains various openings through which thermal neutrons may penetrate, it was necessary to study their contribution to the overall dose rate. A radiation survey of the facility was performed as part of the commissioning process, consisting of a neutron flux measurement via copper foil activation and dose rate measurements throughout the facility via a $^3$He gas filled neutron detector (Thermo Scientific WENDI-2). When using the 1 meV low neutron energy cutoff to account for thermal neutrons in the dose rate predictions, the predictions and survey measurements agree to within a factor of 2 or better in most survey locations.

### Primary author

Mr Jonathan Williams (Simon Fraser University)

### Co-author

Dr Krzysztof Starosta (Simon Fraser University)

### Presentation Materials

There are no materials yet.