Exploratory studies on neutron radiography with a small neutron source using a nuclear scintillation imaging technique

Neutron radiography based on mobile neutron sources need optimum utilization of available neutron fluxes which are usually lower compared to those available from reactors. For optimum utilization of such low flux devices, a sensitive neutron imaging technique is required. Such a neutron imaging system based on a Li6F-ZnS scintillator screen has been developed using a pair of image intensifier tubes and a charge coupled device. This detector system has been employed to study the feasibility of neutron radiography using low neutron fluences. The main feature of this imaging system is its ability to detect individual neutron scintillation events with a higher degree of spatial resolution. In order to test the efficiency of this imaging system, a small scale moderator-collimator assembly was designed using a Pu-Be neutron source of strength ≈2 × 107 n/s. Details of this imaging system and results of some exploratory experiments for low fluence neutron imaging are presented in this paper.