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Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on May 17, 2007
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2007 126(1-4):3-7; doi:10.1093/rpd/ncm003
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Experimental comparison of 241Am–Be Neutron fluence energy distributions

L. Lebreton1,*, A. Zimbal2 and D. Thomas3

1 Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN), Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
2 Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany
3 National Physical Laboratory (NPL), TW11 0LW Teddington, UK

* Corresponding author: lena.lebreton{at}irsn.fr

241Am–Be({alpha},n) neutron sources provide one of the most commonly used neutron fields for routine calibration of neutron sensitive devices. The neutron energy distribution of the IRSN standard 241Am–Be source was measured in the energy region above 1.65 MeV using a BC501A proton-recoil liquid scintillator. The experimental data were compared to the ISO-recommended neutron energy distribution for an 241Am–Be source. Some differences in shape were observed, with large variations mainly within the energy interval 3–6 MeV and around 8 MeV. Within the framework of a collaboration between three national metrological institutes (PTB, Germany; NPL, UK and LNE-IRSN, France), the neutron energy distributions of 241Am–Be sources at each laboratory have been compared. The IRSN-BC501A proton-recoil scintillator was used to measure all the sources. The results show different energy distributions a priori influenced by the origin of the source, i.e. the manufacturing process. The maximum deviation observed for the integral dose equivalent, in the measured BC501A energy range, is within the 4% uncertainty recommended by ISO standard 8529-2 to allow for variations of the neutron spectrum among different 241Am–Be sources. However, knowledge of the energy distribution of an 241Am–Be source provides a way to reduce the uncertainty in the dose equivalent rate delivered by such a source.


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