Measurement of neutron fluence with CR-39 using a UV spectrophotometer

Measurement of the correct neutron fluence in various energy intervals in and around the neutron sources is important for the purpose of personnel and environmental neutron dosimetry. In the present paper we present a method for the measurement of neutron fluence using a CR-39 plastic track detector. The samples exposed to fission neutrons from a reactor with 10(12)-10(16)cm(-2) fluence and to fast neutrons from a Am-241-Be source with a fluence of 3.0 x 10(12)cm(-2) were etched for 14 time intervals starting from 10 to 570 min in 6 N NaOH at 70 degrees C. The etched samples were exposed to the monochromatic light signal from an iodine-tungsten lamp and the transmittance was measured after each etching time interval using a UV Spectrophotometer. An exponential decay of the transmittance has been observed with increasing etching time. The behaviour of the fission neutrons having four different values of fluence has been observed to be distinctly different from that of the fast neutrons. It has also been observed that there is a linear relationship between the transmittance decay constant and fission neutron fluence. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.