ESTIMATION OF NEUTRON ENERGY-SPECTRA WITH BUBBLE DETECTORS - POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS

The capabilities of neutron bubble detectors to give limited energy in formation have been investigated with neutrons from Cf-252 and D-T sou rces. The Bubble Detector Spectrometer (BDS) with six different energy thresholds ranging from 10 keV to 10 MeV has been used. The data obta ined with the Cf-252 source have been compared with data from measurem ents with the neutron spectrometer ROSPEC. In addition the data have b een compared with theoretical calculations. The agreement between the measured BDS data with the californium source and theory was acceptabl e. For the measurements at the 14 MeV D-T neutron generator a deconvol ution of the bubble data has not been possible, therefore the doses ca lculated from the number of bubbles produced in the detectors are give n. There is a clear indication of neutrons with energies higher than 1 0 MeV. For these neutron energies the fluence is measured correct with in an error of 15%.