On 14 – 15 November 2019, a seminar dedicated to the launch of the neutron radiography and tomography facility at the WWR-K reactor was held in the Institute of Nuclear Physics (Kazakhstan).

Leading scientists of the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna), the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute” (Moscow), the Institute of Nuclear Physics (Almaty), and the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Almaty) took part in the seminar.

Nowadays, all modern neutron sources are equipped with facilities for neutron radiography and tomography. It is due to the fact that the method of neutron radiography and tomography allows collecting information about the internal construction of various objects with the micron resolution. This method is widely used for research in the fields of material science, nuclear technologies, geophysics, archaeology, palaeontology, objects of cultural heritage and etc.

The neutron radiography and tomography facility has been developed in the frames of the scientific and technical cooperation of specialists from the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics JINR and the Institute of Nuclear Physics. The facility has been created at the first horizontal channel of the WWR-K research reactor and is the only facility of this kind in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

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In numerous large-scale neutron centres, such as the Institut Laue–Langevin (France), the Technical University of Munich (Germany), Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland), the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna) and others, facilities for neutron radiography are used for the non-destructive control and the analysis of the internal structure of objects of both scientific and engineering types.

The neutron radiography method consists of obtaining neutron images of the studied objects, which provide information about the distribution of inhomogeneities of the studied materials. Neutron tomography allows obtaining the three-dimensional reconstruction of the internal structure of the object that is made at different angular positions of the sample concerning the neutron beam.

In the framework of the seminar, a video conference with a representative of the IAEA Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences Nuno Pessoa Barradas was held. IAEA specialists congratulated INP scientists on their significant achievement allowing to expand the scope of the WWR-K application. The new facility will be included in the international database of neutron radiography facilities.

Source: Institute of Nuclear Physics