Single beam photoneutron probe and x-ray imaging system for contraband detection and identification

TLDR: An inspection system for detecting contraband in cargo containers, vehicles, rail cars, etc having an Xray source and X-ray imaging capability is described in this paper, where a beam converter plate is placed in front of the x-ray beam, converting the beam to a neutron beam.

Abstract: An inspection system for detecting contraband in cargo containers, vehicles, rail cars, etc having an X-ray source and X-ray imaging capability A cargo container (12) or vehicle is scanned with the beam (15) to look for possible target objects, such as contraband If the X-ray image shows the existence of targets or possible targets at specific sites, each site may be probed with neutrons by placing a beam converter plate in front of the X-ray beam, converting the beam to a neutron beam The neutrons are quickly thermalized and captured by materials producing nuclear reactions with specific elements, yielding gamma rays whose energy is characteristic of particular specific elements For special nuclear materials, the neutron probe beam can induce the emission of fission neutrons which can be detected Disclosed are embodiments where the cargo container (115) is fixed and the X-ray equipment (113) is mobile and where the cargo container (12) is mobile and the X-ray equipment (14) is fixed