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R. L. French, L. G. Mooney
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 43 | Number 3 | March 1971 | Pages 273-280
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A19973
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effect of the air-ground interface on the scattered fast-neutron dose near the ground was measured at a distance of 1000 ft from a 14-MeV neutron source. The source was the HENRE accelerator operated at a height of 112 ft on the BREN tower at the Nevada Test Site. A horizontal slab of polyethylene 1 ft thick and 5 ft square, with Hurst-type fast-neutron dosimeters mounted on its upper and lower surfaces, separated the neutrons arriving through the upper 2π solid angle from those from the lower 2π. A third detector, mounted on a boom, measured the free-field. The entire assembly was suspended by a hoist system to make measurements at 0.75 to 70 ft above the ground. The scattered dose at the top detector was essentially constant; that at the bottom detector increased by a factor of approximately 2 between 0.75 and 70 ft, and the free-field dose increased by < 25% over the same height range. The experiment provided confirmation, both qualitative and quantitative, of the “first-last collision model” of the air-ground interface effect.