Preliminary results of a new boron coated neutron detector

The proliferation of neutron detection applications based upon 3He counter has triggered a critical shortage of 3He gas. Nowadays there is an increasing demand for alternative neutron detectors that can cover large solid angles, have low sensitivity to gamma background and low cost. We present a low cost neutron detector based upon 3 cm diameter, 150 cm long cylindrical metal tube coated on the inside with a thin layer of 10B-enriched boron carbide (10B4C) fulfilled by 1 atm nitrogen.