DEVELOPMENT AND CREATION OF A SELF-POWERED DETECTOR FOR THERMAL NEUTRON FLUX MEASUREMENTS

Self-Powered Neutron Detectors (SPNDs) with a hafnium metal emitter have certain advantages compared to rhodium SPNDs, and are promising both for the upgrades of existing WWERs and for new generation reactors. The hafnium SPND is an emission type inertia-free detector (the so-called “Compton” detector), and can be used in such reactor operation modes, in which it is necessary to obtain data on the neutron field distribution instantly. Hf has a suitable initial nuclide composition (a sequence of nuclides with similar cross-sections in the (n, ) reaction), which allows to increase the neutron irradiation time significantly, and, consequently, to increase the detector's service life time. The paper outlines the main approaches to the selection and creation of materials and elements for the design of an SPND with a hafnium emitter, designed to measure the neutron flux density in the core of a WWER-type reactor.