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Discussions and actions on nuclear energy have penetrated several state capitol buildings, congressional hearings, and industry gatherings across the United States this month, including in Alaska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York.
R. L. French, L. G. Mooney
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 47 | Number 3 | March 1972 | Pages 375-380
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A22425
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The “last-collision” method for computing the air-ground interface effect on scattered neutron intensity is extended to give the effect on the intensity within individual polar angle groups at a detector near the ground. The method yields angle-dependent perturbation factors which can be used to adjust infinite-air angle distributions to account for the presence of an air-ground interface, or to adjust angle distributions from one detector height to another. To determine the factors, a uniform scattering distribution in the air about the detector is assumed, and the fractional contribution from each last-collision center in the air is calculated. In addition, the fraction scattered directly to the detector from the ground surface is calculated using a simplified albedo model. An evaluation of the angle-dependent last-collision model indicated that the results of discrete ordinate calculations for infinite air could be modified to give relative polar angle distributions of the scattered neutron dose near the air-ground interface within 10 to 20% of those calculated directly for the air-over-ground case by the discrete ordinate method.