Characterization of the neutron calibration laboratory in Jordan

This paper demonstrates the establishment of the first neutron calibration laboratory in Jordan based on a ²⁵²Cf neutron source. The paper discusses the neutron scattering influence on the neutron field in terms of international standards. It also represents the laboratory’s design, the neutron source shielding design, and the implemented safety features. Data was acquired using two spherical neutron devices of the same type. The room’s neutron scattering was determined using three methods: shadow cone, semi-empirical, and reduced fitting. The measurements were conducted at distances starting at 30 cm, and ends at ∼200 cm. The results of this work recommend a calibration distances of 100–140 cm from the source using the shadow cone method and within 30–140 cm using the semi-empirical and reduced fitting methods, these limits are set by the 40% limit ecommended by the ISO 8529-2:2000 standard. Finally, the source-detector characteristic constant, <i>k</i>, was determined using these models, and the results of the three models agrees within 0.15–6%.