Pulse-height distributions of neutron and gamma rays from plutonium-oxide samples

Abstract We present new results on neutron and gamma-ray pulse-height distributions (PHDs) measured with liquid scintillators from five plutonium-oxide samples of varying mass and burnup and a 252 Cf isotopic source. We show that the analysis of the pulse-height distributions can be used to easily distinguish the fissile material (plutonium oxide) from the 252 Cf source. Moreover, the slope of the measured pulse-height distributions can be analyzed to distinguish the burnup of the samples, independent of their masses. Finally, the measurement scenarios are modeled using the MCNP-PoliMi code and good agreement is observed between the measured and the simulated pulse-height distributions.