FAST NEUTRON DOSIMETRY USING CR-39
NUCLEAR TRACK DETECTOR *

ZAKI, M.⁽¹⁾, ABDEL-NABY, A.⁽²⁾ and   MORSY, A.⁽³⁾

(1) Experimental Nuclear Physics Department, Atomic Energy Authority,
Egypt, (2) Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt and (3) Physics Department, University College
for Girls, Ain Shams University, Egypt.

Key words: Neutron dose, UV-Vis spectra, CR-39, Track density.

قياسات إشعاعية نيوترونية باستخدام الكاشف النووى CR-39 عديد الكربونات

محمد زكى و عاصم عبد النبى و أحمد مرسى

خلاصـة

تم فى هذا البحث استخدام تقنية طيف الأشعة فوق البنفسجية لقياس جرعات النيوترونات، لذا فقد تم تعريض فئة من الكاشف النووى عديد الكربونات إلى نيوترونات بجرعات مختلفة من النيوترونات من مصدر الكاليفورنيوم-252 و تم عمل معالجة كيميائية للعينات ووجد أن هناك علاقة خطية للامتصاص الضوئى مع الجرعات الإشعاعية و بالتالى فمن الممكن استخدام تلك العلاقة فى مجال القياسات الإشعاعية حيث يمكن تعيين الجرعات بدلالة هذه التقنية.

ABSTRACT

Measurement of the neutron dose in and around the neutron sources is important for the purpose of personnel and environmental neutron dosimetry. In the present study, a method for the measurement of neutron dose using the UV-Vis spectra of CR-39 plastic track detector was investigated. A set of CR-39 plastic detectors was exposed to ²⁵²Cf neutron source, which had the yield of 0.68x10⁸/s, and neutron dose equivalent rate 1m apart from the source is equal
to 3.8 mrem/h. The samples were etched for 10 h in 6.25 N NaOH at 70^oC.
The absorbance of the etched samples was measured using UV-visible spectrophotometer as a function of neutron dose. It was observed that there was a linear relationship between the optical absorption of these detectors and neutron dose. This means that the exposure dose of neutron can be determined by knowing the optical absorption of the sample. These results were compared with previous study. It was found that there was a matching and good agreement with their investigations.