Convenient method of relative calibration of the neutron source emission rate between different source types

Neutron source emission rates are determined by absolute or relative measurement. The relative measurement is performed by comparing between a sample source and a calibrated reference source of the same type. In this calibration, the energy spectra of the sample and reference sources should be identical, since normally there exists energy dependence in the response of neutron detectors. We propose a method of relative calibration of the neutron source emission rate between different source types and spectra. In the present method, a sample source or a calibrated reference source is located at the center of a graphite pile and thermal neutron flux at a special position is monitored and compared. We performed gold foil activation measurements at the NMIJ/AIST graphite pile and revealed that the thermal neutron flux at that position per unit source emission rate is independent of the types of neutron sources. The details of the physical mechanism were examined by calculating the spectral fluence of the neutrons thermalized inside the graphite pile using the MCNP4C code. We demonstrated this method using Am-Be, Ra(α)-Be, Cf, Pu-Be neutron sources and obtained the successful results which agreed within 1%.