CHARACTERISATION OF THE TRIUMF NEUTRON FACILITY USING A MONTE CARLO SIMULATION CODE

Here, the characterisation of the high-energy neutron field at TRIUMF (The Tri Universities Meson Facility, Vancouver, British Columbia) with Monte Carlo simulation software is described. The package used is MCNPX version 2.6.0, with the neutron fluence rate determined at three locations within the TRIUMF Thermal Neutron Facility (TNF), including the exit of the neutron channel where users of the facility can test devices that may be susceptible to the effects of this form of radiation. The facility is often used to roughly emulate the field likely to be encountered at high altitudes due to radiation of galactic origin and thus the simulated information is compared with the energy spectrum calculated to be due to neutron radiation of cosmic origin at typical aircraft altitudes. The calculated values were also compared with neutron flux measurements that were estimated using the activation of various foils by the staff of the facility, showing agreement within an order of magnitude.