Nondestructive and active interrogation system for special nuclear material:proof of principle and initial results

Herein,we employ the threshold energy neutron analysis(TENA)technique to introduce the world's first active interrogation system to detect special nuclear materials(SNMs),including U-235 and Pu-239.The system utilizes a DD neutron generator based on inertial electrostatic confinement(IEC)to interrogate suspicious objects.To detect secondary neutrons produced during fission reactions induced in SNMs,a tensioned metastable fluid detector(TMFD)is employed.The current status of the system's development is reported in this paper,accompanied by the results from experiments conducted to detect 10 g of highly enriched uranium(HEU).Notably,the experimental findings demonstrate a distinct difference in the count rates of measurements with and without HEU.This difference in count rates surpasses two times the standard deviation,indicating a confidence level of more than 96% for identifying the presence of HEU.The paper presents and extensively discusses the proof-of-principle experimental results,along with the system's planned trajectory.

The Use of an Electron Microchannel as a Self-Extracting and Focusing Plasma Cathode Electron Gun

A new and simple type of electron gun is presented.Unlike conventional electron guns,which require a heated filament or extractor,accelerator and focusing electrodes,this gun uses the collimated electron microchannels of an inertial electrostatic confinement（IEC） discharge to achieve the same outcome.A cylindrical cathode is placed coaxially within a cylindrical anode to create the discharge.Collimated beams of electrons and fast neutrals emerge along the axis of the cylindrical cathode.This geometry isolates one of the microchannels that emerge in a negatively biased IEC grid.The internal operating pressure range of the gun is 35-190 m Torr.A small aperture separates the gun from the main vacuum chamber in order to achieve a pressure differential.The chamber was operated at pressures of 4-12 m Torr.The measured current produced by the gun was 0.1-3 m A（0.2-14 m A corrected measurement） for discharge currents of 1-45 m A and discharge voltages of 0.5-12 k V.The collimated electron beam emerges from the aperture into the vacuum chamber.The performance of the gun is unaffected by the pressure differential between the vacuum chamber and the gun.This allows the aperture to be removed and the chamber pressure to be equal to the gun pressure if required.