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Monitoring the SNS basement neutron background with the MARS detector

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Published 22 March 2022 © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab
, , Citation The COHERENT collaboration et al 2022 JINST 17 P03021 DOI 10.1088/1748-0221/17/03/P03021

1748-0221/17/03/P03021

Abstract

We present the analysis and results of the first dataset collected with the MARS neutron detector deployed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) for the purpose of monitoring and characterizing the beam-related neutron (BRN) background for the COHERENT collaboration. MARS was positioned next to the COH-CsI coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering detector in the SNS basement corridor. This is the basement location of closest proximity to the SNS target and thus, of highest neutrino flux, but it is also well shielded from the BRN flux by infill concrete and gravel. These data show the detector registered roughly one BRN per day. Using MARS' measured detection efficiency, the incoming BRN flux is estimated to be 1.20 ± 0.56 neutrons/m^2/MWh for neutron energies above ∼3.5 MeV and up to a few tens of MeV. We compare our results with previous BRN measurements in the SNS basement corridor reported by other neutron detectors.

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