Document Type : Research Article
Authors
Faculty of Nuclear Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Distinguishing naturally occurring radioactive (e.g. ceramics, fertilizers, etc.) from unauthorized materials (e.g. high enriched uranium, Pu-239, etc.) to reduce false alarms is a prominent characteristic of radiation monitoring port. By employing the energy windowing method for the spectrum correspond to the simulation of a plastic scintillator detector using the MCNPX Monte Carlo code together with an artificial neural network, the present work proposes a method for distinguishing naturally occurring materials and K-40 from four unauthorized sources including high enriched uranium and Pu-239 (as special nuclear materials), Cs-137 (as an example of dirty bombs), and depleted uranium.
Highlights
- Energy windowing is used to distinguish naturally occurring from unauthorized radioactive.
- High enriched and depleted uranium, Pu-239, and Cs-137 are used as unauthorized radioactives.
- Energy windows are obtained for four unauthorized radioactive materials.
- An artificial neural network is used for processing the energy windowing outputs.
Keywords