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The EURopean Illicit TRAfficking Countermeasures Kit (EURITRACK) inspection system uses 14 MeV neutrons produced by the D(T,n α) reaction to detect explosives in cargo containers. Fast-neutron-induced reactions inside the container produce gamma rays, which are detected in coincidence with the associated alpha particle. The definition of the neutron path and the time-of-flight measurement allow positioning the source of the gamma ray inside the container, while the chemical composition of the target material is correlated with the energy spectrum of the coincident gamma rays. However, in case of dense cargo, neutron moderation and photon attenuation inside the container make difficult the reconstruction of the material composition from the measured gamma-ray energy spectrum. An analytical method has been developed and validated against experimental data, which allows obtaining the chemical carbon-to-oxygen and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios of the inspected items from the gamma-ray energy spectra. The principle of the method is presented along with validation tests.

The EURopean Illicit TRAfficing Countermeasures Kit (EURITRACK) project is part of the 6th European Union Framework Program. It aims at developing a Tagged Neutron Inspection System (TNIS) to detect illicit materials, such as explosives and narcotics, in cargo containers. Fast neutron induced reactions produce specific gamma-rays used to determine the chemical composition of the inspected material. The associated particle technique is employed to precisely locate the interaction points of the neutrons. A new deuterium– tritium neutron generator has been developed, including a pixelized alpha particle detector. The TNIS also comprises high-efficiency fast neutron and gamma-ray detectors, a dedicated front-end electronics and an integrated software to entirely drive the system and automatically process the data. Most components have been integrated during last months at Institute Ruder Boskovic, in Zagreb, Croatia. An overview of the TNIS and of its preliminary performances is presented.

The EURITRACK portal makes use of the tagged neutron technique to inspect suspect regions of cargo containers identified in preliminary x‐ray inspections. The portal has been in operation at the Rijeka seaport during the last three years. The performances of sub‐systems, with particular interest on the sealed tube neutron generator, is presented.

The EURopean Illicit TRAfficking Countermeasures Kit (EURITRACK) inspection system has been designed to complement X-ray scanners in the detection of explosives and other illicit materials hidden in cargo containers. The containers are interrogated by a 14-MeV tagged neutron beam at any suspect position in the X-ray image. Interrogation of a specific volume element with tagged neutrons yields information about the chemical composition of the material. Implementation and performance tests of the EURITRACK system in the Port of Rijeka in Croatia are described. Cargo container inspection results are reported and discussed.

Within the EURopean Illicit TRAfficking Countermeasures Kit (EURITRACK) project, the gamma-ray spectra produced in a series of materials by 14-MeV tagged-neutron beams have been collected in the inspection portal equipped with large volume NaI(Tl) detectors, in order to build a database of signatures for various elements: C, N, O, Na, Al, Si, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb. The measured spectra have been compared with prediction from Monte Carlo simulations to verify the consistency of the relevant nuclear data inputs. This library of measured 14-MeV neutron-induced gamma-ray spectra is currently used in a data processing algorithm to unfold the energy spectra of the transported goods into elementary contributions, thus allowing material identification.

The detection of illicit trafficking such as explosive materials inside large commercial payloads is today an important worldwide problem. Differently from the X- or γ -ray based systems, neutron interrogation allows the elemental composition of inspected materials to be measured. A container interrogation device based on the Tagged Neutron Inspection System (TNIS) has been developed within the EURITRACK (EURopean Illicit TRAfficking Countermeasures Kit) project of the 6th Framework Program of the European Union. A prototype of such system has been integrated at the Ruder Boskovic Institute (IRB) of Zagreb, Croatia, and performance tests have been carried out. A detailed simulation of the IRB experimental set-up has been performed. Comparison of the Monte Carlo predictions with collected experimental data is presented.

International audience; The EURopean Illicit TRAfficing Countermeasures Kit project is part of the 6th European Union Framework Program, and aims at developing a neutron inspection system for detecting threat materials (explosives, drugs, etc.) in cargo containers. Neutron interaction in the container produces specific gamma-rays used to determine the chemical composition of the inspected material. An associated particle sealed tube neutron generator is developed to allow precise location of the interaction point by direction and time-of-flight measurements of the neutrons tagged by alpha-particles. The EURITRACK project consists in developing: a transportable deuterium-tritium neutron generator including a position sensitive alpha detector (8×8 matrix of YAP:Ce crystals coupled to a multi-anode photomultiplier), fast neutron and gamma-ray detectors, front-end electronics to perform coincidence and spectroscopic measurements, and an integrated software which manages neutron generator and detectors positioning, data acquisition and analysis. Hardware components have been developed and tested by the consortium partners. Current status of this work and provisional performances of the system assessed by Monte Carlo calculations are presented.

The EURopean Illicit TRAfficing Countermeasures Kit (EURITRACK) Front-End and Data Acquisition System is a compact set of VME boards interfaced with a standard PC. The system is part of a cargo container inspection portal based on the tagged neutrons technique. The front-end processes all detector signals and checks coincidences between any of the 64 pixels of the alpha particle detector and any gamma-ray signals in 22 NaI(Tl) scintillators. The system is capable of handling the data flow at neutron flux up to the portal limiting value of 10 8 neutrons/second. Some typical applications are presented.

The possibility of terrorist use of explosive devices has become in recent years one of the most important issues on the international political agenda. The contrast of illicit trafficking of explosive materials by means of large commercial payloads is one of the main aspects of the problem. Currently used X-ray or gamma-ray based systems provide only density measurements of the inspected item. Neutron interrogation, on the contrary, allows the elemental density of the materials to be measured. During the last years, the Tagged Neutron Inspection System (TNIS) has been developed, which uses fan beams of 14 MeV neutrons, produced by the D+T reaction and tagged by detecting the alpha particle produced in the reaction. The TNIS improves the signal to noise ratio by electronically selecting the gamma-rays from the voxel defined by the tagging detector and by the neutron time of flight. A container interrogation device based on the TNIS is being developed within the EURITRACK (EURopean Illicit TRAfficking Countermeasures Kit) project, within the 6th Framework Program of the European Union. This system consists of a transportable deuterium-tritium neutron generator, including a position sensitive YAP alpha detector, fast neutron and gamma-ray detectors, front-end electronics and an integrated software to manage data acquisition and processing. Nuclear instrumentation has been integrated at the Ruder Boskovic Institute (IRB) of Zagreb, Croatia, and performance tests have been performed with different container fillings and targets. The design and previsional performances of this measurement system were previously determined using the Monte Carlo MCNP program. A detailed simulation of a previous IRB experimental set-up was also performed. The integration tests have provided experimental data usable to validate the calculations. Comparison of the Monte Carlo predictions with experimental data collected with the actual IRB set-up will be presented.