COSMIC RAY BACKGROUND ANALYSIS FOR A CARGO CONTAINER COUNTER

Year
2001
Author(s)
H.O. Menlove - Los Alamos National Laboratory
N. Ensslin - Los Alamos National Laboratory
D.R. Mayo - Los Alamos National Laboratory
W. Geist - Los Alamos National Laboratory
J. Lestone - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Abstract
We have developed a new model for calculating the expected yield of cosmic-ray spallation neutrons in a Cargo Container Counter, and we have benchmarked the model against measurements made with several existing large neutron counters. We also developed two versions of a new measurement uncertainty prediction code based on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The codes calculate the minimum detectability limit for the Cargo Container Counter for either neutron singles or doubles counting, and also propagate the uncertainties associated with efficiency normalization flux monitors and cosmic ray flux monitors. This paper will describe the physics basis for this analysis, and the results obtained for several different counter designs.