The soil moisture and its effect on the detection of buried hydrogenous material by neutron backscattering technique

Abstract

Among the available nuclear techniques, the neutron backscattering technique, based on the detection of the produced thermal neutrons, is thought to be the most promising for landmine detections. The results obtained from Monte Carlo simulation were used for selection of BF 3 detector and Am–Be neutron source shielding. In addition, soil moisture was discussed as a limitation of the neutron backscattering technique. It was experimentally found that this technique is useful for soil whose water content is lower than 14%.