Design and construction of the neutron radiography facility for Tehran Research Reactor with real-time digital imaging capability

Neutron radiography is one of the most advanced methods in non-destructive testing. The application of this useful and unique method is very wide and diverse and includes from the nuclear industry to the power plant industry, military industry, study of antiquities and research on new materials. In this method, neutrons are attenuated after passing through the material and interacting with the test sample, in proportion to the cross-section of neutron interaction with the nuclei and the thickness of material. The amount of radiation reaching to detector contains valuable information from inside the test material, which by detecting and converting into an image, the structural details of the material can be realized. Tehran Research Reactor, with several suitable neutron ports, is the most important neutron source in the country for applied research such as neutron radiography. The main requirements for neutron imaging are the source of neutron, the neutron beam shaping (collimator), the beam shutter, the sample table, the imaging medium, the beam catcher and the shielding room. In the present project, apart from the collimator which has been previously designed and built, other components required to create and set up a neutron radiography system has been designed and made in accordance with the principles of radiation protection and current knowledge in the field of neutron radiography. This design can implement two imaging methods based on film and digital imaging. Direct real time neutron radiography has been designed and implemented in this project for the first time in the country.