A New Gas Scintillation Detector for Fast Reactors

A gaseous scintillator which features gamma ray and system noise suppression has been studied for possible use in high power density breeder reactors. Spectroscopic information on the light emitted from several gases under fission fragment excitation has been obtained. This information is also useful for the nuclear pumped laser concept. Performance characteristics of a prototype detector at thermal neutron fluxes up to 2 × 1012 n/cm2-sec have been obtained and advantages of the concept are discussed.