Effects of Reflector on Intensity of Thermal Neutrons Emitted from Moderator for Pulsed Neutron Source

Abstract

Intensity of the thermal neutrons emitted from the moderator with a reflector was calculated to study the effects on the intensity caused by a macroscopic total neutron cross section and an average logarithmic energy loss of the reflector materials.

A reflector with a large macroscopic total neutron cross section produced higher thermal neutron intensity than that with a small cross section if they had the same average logarithmic energy loss. Among the reflectors with the same total macroscopic neutron cross section, the thermal neutron intensity was not changed by decreasing the average logarithmic energy loss to a range less than about 0.1 but above this value the intensity was weakened. From this result it was found that a large macroscopic total cross section and a small average logarithmic energy loss are preferable characteristics for reflector materials.

As actual reflector materials, three reflector materials were examined, namely beryllium, graphite and lead, which are now considered to be candidates. The lead reflector was effective for the moderator with a large emission-surface and the beryllium reflector for the moderator with a small one. This result indicates that the moderator size is important for choosing the best reflector material to produce the highest beam intensity.

KEYWORDS:

• beryllium
• graphite
• lead
• macroscopic cross sections
• pulsed neutron sources
• reflector
• slowing-down
• thermal neutron intensity