Design studies using MCNP6® for an oil well logging prototype tool and a test facility

Abstract

Many oil well logging tools carry on board highly radioactive C137s and/or A241m-Be sources. These dangerous radionuclides are often unsecured and used in remote locations. There is some risk of the material being stolen to create dirty bombs. To address this problem, our research group has designed and constructed an oil well logging prototype tool and a testing facility to attempt to demonstrate that a neutron machine source can replace the use of C137s and 241Am-Be sources. A Deuterium-Tritium (DT) neutron generator was chosen for the study. Various tool and testing facility designs were studied using the MCNP6® code. The final tool and test facility are described. The design process and MCNP6® tools used to model the well-logging prototype tool and facility are described. Simulated and experimental detector responses comparison are presented.