We have designed, built, and laboratory-tested a unique shield design that transforms the complex neutron spectrum
from PuBe source neutrons, generated at high energies, to nearly exactly the neutron signature leaking from a significant
spherical mass of weapons grade plutonium (WGPu). This equivalent "X-material shield assembly" (Patent Pending)
enables the harder PuBe source spectrum (average energy of 4.61 MeV) from a small encapsulated standard 1-Ci PuBe
source to be transformed, through interactions in the shield, so that leakage neutrons are shifted in energy and yield to
become a close reproduction of the neutron spectrum leaking from a large subcritical mass of WGPu metal (mean energy
2.11 MeV). The utility of this shielded PuBe surrogate for WGPu is clear, since it directly enables detector field testing
without the expense and risk of handling large amounts of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) as WGPu. Also,
conventional sources using Cf-252, which is difficult to produce, and decays with a 2.7 year half life, could be replaced
by this shielded PuBe technology in order to simplify operational use, since a sealed PuBe source relies on Pu-239
(T½=24,110 y), and remains viable for more than hundreds of years.
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