Design of a high energy neutron dosimeter using CR-39 with multi-layer radiator

Abstract

Abstract Personal neutron dosimeters are necessary for radiation protection of nuclear workers in high energy accelerator facilities. To improve sensitivity for high energy neutrons above 10 MeV, a new personal neutron dosimeter was designed using a solid state nuclear track detector (CR-39) covered with Multi-Layer radiator consisting of polyethylene, polyamide and iron/aluminum sheets. In this work, we investigated various radiator combinations and thicknesses in order to detect high energy neutrons above 10 MeV. Energy response of each radiator was calculated using the multi-purpose Monte Carlo simulation code, Particle and Heavy Ion Transport System (PHITS). To evaluate the accuracy of our calculations, the energy response of each radiator was measured in a mono-energetic neutron field at the Facility of Radiation Standard (FRS) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The energy response of each radiator calculated by PHITS was in good agreement with our experimental results. The results obtained in this research indicate that PHITS is a useful software tool for the design of new personal neutron dosimeters using CR-39 and using Multi-layer radiator approach.