Neutron Fluctuations

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THEORY OF MULTIPLICITY IN NUCLEAR SAFEGUARDS

Contents

11.1 Neutron and Gamma Cascades

11.2 Basic Equations

11.3 Neutron Distributions

11.4 Gamma Photon Distributions

11.5 Joint Moments

11.6 Practical Applications: Outlook

Branching in the fission process, as the physical origin of time correlations and hence non-trivial statistical properties of the neutron distribution, can be used also in areas other than measuring the reactivity (or multiplication factor) in nearly critical systems. One such area, a branch of nuclear safeguards, deals with nuclear material control and accounting. The purpose is to detect, identify and quantify fissile material with non-intrusive methods [89]. This is achieved by detecting radiation, either ...