A neutron radiography beamline relying on the Isfahan Miniature Neutron Source Reactor

Abstract Concerning to the costs of the establishment of new research reactors and their waste issues, the world’s quest is to expand the capabilities of existing research reactors and to develop their application further. In this way, attempts have been made to extract an appropriate thermal neutron beam for neutron radiography purposes at the 30 kW Isfahan MNSR reactor. In this study, the result of calculations and experiments in support of the implementation of a thermal neutron radiography beamline at this reactor has been demonstrated. While many research reactors have beam tube equipment, the original design of the MNSR did not include beam tubes. Therefore, at first stage of our feasibility study, a vertical aluminum tube with a diameter of about 5 cm has been used as an external beam tube to validate calculated values of MCNP code with experimental measurements. The image quality has been determined using ASTM image quality indicators. It can conclude that the Isfahan MNSR is an appropriate reactor with suitable neutron flux for a neutron radiography system. Results show that it is possible to obtain an appropriate neutron radiography beam at this low power research reactor. Also, according to the physical restrictions of the MNSR and considering the least possible changes in the current reactor status, some beam tubes with larger beam diameters have been designed and the related beam parameters have been calculated and demonstrated.