Neutron fluence rate measurements at an underground laboratory: A Bayesian approach

We describe the analysis of neutron fluence rate measurements that were carried out at the underground laboratory Felsenkeller, near Dresden, Germany, which is at a depth of 47 m. At this depth, neutrons are mainly produced by natural radioactivity via spontaneous fission and (α, n) reactions, and by reactions induced by cosmic-ray muons. The measurements were made with the NEMUS Bonner sphere spectrometer. This system consists of a set of moderating spheres of different diameters and a 3He-filled proportional counter placed at the center of each sphere. Due to time constraints, it was only possible to use three of the spheres and the “bare detector” (i.e., a 3He-filled proportional counter without a moderating sphere). In addition to the measurements carried out at Felsenkeller, we also made low-level measurements with a set of 3He-filled proportional counters in the UDO underground laboratory at the Asse salt mine, near Braunschweig, Germany, which is at a depth of 490 m. The neutron background at UDO i...