Conceptual study of salt-meter with ²⁵²Cf neutron source for on-site inspection of bridge structure

Issue title: UCANS-web 2020

Guest editors: David Baxter, Thomas Gutberlet, Yoshie Otake, Frédéric Ott and Xuewu Wang

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wakabayashi, Yasuo^{a; *} | Yan, Mingfei^a | Takamura, Masato^a | Ooishi, Ryuutarou^b | Watase, Hiroshi^b | Ikeda, Yujiro^{a; c} | Otake, Yoshie^a

Affiliations: [a] RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics, RIKEN, Japan. E-mails: y.wakabayashi@riken.jp, mingfei.yan@riken.jp, takamura@riken.jp, yotake@riken.jp | [b] Oriental Shiraishi Corporation, Japan. E-mails: ryuutarou.ooishi@orsc.co.jp, hiroshi.watase@orsc.co.jp | [c] J-PARC Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Japan. E-mail: yikeda@post.j-parc.jp

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. E-mail: y.wakabayashi@riken.jp.

Abstract: We studied the feasibility of a portable salt-meter incorporating a prompt gamma neutron activation analysis with a californium-252 neutron source to meet urgent demands for non-destructive methods without pre-processing in large bulk materials such as concrete structures. This technique is aiming at the chloride ion concentration in concrete structures with a depth profile from the surface to steel bar. From the portability point of view, a californium-252 neutron source is adopted and we have performed a preliminary experiment and simulations with a simple geometry. In this paper, we describe the performances of salt detection sensitivities by applying the prompt gamma neutron activation analysis.

Keywords: ²⁵²Cf neutron source, non-destructive method, on-site, gamma-ray, concrete

DOI: 10.3233/JNR-210015

Journal: Journal of Neutron Research, vol. 23, no. 2-3, pp. 207-213, 2021