Photon and Neutron Active Interrogation of Highly Enriched Uranium

The physics of photon and neutron active interrogation of highly enriched uranium (HEU) using the delayed neutron reinterrogation method is described in this paper. Two sets of active interrogation experiments were performed using a set of subcritical configurations of concentric HEU metal hemishells. One set of measurements utilized a pulsed 14-MeV neutron generator as the active source. The second set of measurements utilized a linear accelerator-based bremsstrahlung photon source as an active interrogation source. The neutron responses were measured for both sets of experiments. The operational details and results for both measurement sets are described.