The new neutron radiography/tomography/imaging station DINGO at OPAL

Abstract

Abstract A new neutron imaging instrument will be built to support the area of neutron imaging research (neutron radiography/tomography) at ANSTO. The instrument will be designed for an international user community and for routine quality control for defence, industrial, mining, space and aircraft applications. It will also be a useful tool for assessing oil and water flow in sedimentary rock reservoirs (like the North West Shelf), assessing water damage in aircraft components, and the study of hydrogen distribution and cracking in steel. The instrument is planned to be completed by the end of June 2013 and is currently in the design stage. The usable neutron flux is mainly determined by the neutron source, but it also depends on the instrument position and the resolution. The designated instrument position for DINGO is the beam port HB-2 in the reactor hall. The estimated flux for an L / D of approximately 250 at HB-2 is calculated by Mcstas simulation in a range of 4.75×10 7 n/cm 2 s, which is in the same range of other facilities like ANSTARES (FRM II; Schillinger et al., 2004 [1] ) or BT2 (NIST; Hussey et al., 2005 [2] ). A special feature of DINGO is the in-pile collimator place in front of the main shutter at HB-2. The collimator offers two pinholes with a possible L / D of 250 and 1000. A secondary collimator will separate the two beams and block one. The whole instrument will operate in two different positions, one for high resolution and the other for high speed.