Calibration of a passive rem counter with monoenergetic neutrons

Rem-Counters are widely used in radiation protection practice for environmental neutron detection. They are usually based on both an active and a passive thermal neutron detector surrounded by a hydrogenate moderator designed to obtain a response function as close as possible to the H*(10) curve. Inclusion of high Z material is also used to extend the response function up to 1 GeV of neutron energy. Recently a dual detector Rem-Counter, both active and passive, was proposed by Agosteo et al. (2010). The present paper focuses on the passive version that is based on a CR-39 track detector coupled to an enriched B-10 converter. A technique was developed for the track analysis based on the measurement of the mean LET of the charged particles produced by the neutron reaction on B-10 that has proven to be very effective in the background reduction. Moreover the simulated response function of the Rem-Counter was compared with the experimental results obtained with irradiations carried out with monoenergetic neutron beams, showing a quite good agreement. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.