Logging and Log Interpretation - Laboratory Studies of a Pulsed Neutron-Source Technique in Well Logging

Refinements in radiation logging techniques during recent years have involved increasing usage of scintillation ditectors. These detectors produce voltage pulses whose heights are related to the energies of the gamma rays which initiate them. Analysis of the gamma-ray spectrum, as indicated by the pulse heights, yields information about the chemical elements composing the formations surveyed. Refined scintillation counter techniques can furnish chemical information concerning earth formations in situ, from a study of the gamma-ray spectra emitted by the formation either naturally or as a result of neutron bombardment."' Accompanying the rising interest in gamma-ray scintillation spectroscopy, there has been increased activity in the development of accelerator-type neutron sources (in contrast to encapsulated chemical-mixture sources). Such neutron generators are attractive for several reasons: (1) they greatly reduce radiation hazards to personnel; (2) there is a great reduction in contamination danger if they are lost in the hole; (3) they can produce larger neutron intensities than can conveniently available encapsulated sources; and (4) they are capable of being pulsed, thus permitting new techniques in logging. In the past, both accelerator and encapsulated neutron sources have been used by others in conjunction with scintillation-detector pulse-height analysis. The results have not been too encouraging, due to the interference among different gamma-ray spectral lines and to the fact that the gamma-ray peaks were not too clearly distinguishable above the large and ill-defined background "noise".'.' This paper is a status report on laboratory studies of a technique using a borehole accelerator as a neutron source, which gives an improved scintillation spectrum, thus permitting more accurate chemical analyses of the formations penetrated. The Schlumberger-accelerator neutron source' is presented; the origins of inelastic and of thermal-neutron, capture gamma rays are dis- cussed, and results are given for some laboratory measurements performed in borehole geometry. THE NEUTRON GENERATOR-TUBE ACCELERATOR In the attempt to develop an accelerator neutron source which would have the desirable properties outlined in the "Introduction" and which would operate satisfactorily under borehole logging conditions, a small-diameter, cylindrical, neutron generator tube has been developed. This tube utilizes the principle of accelerating deuterons (heavy hydrogen nuclei) by a high voltage so that they bombard a tritium (heavy, heavy hydrogen) target. The resulting reactions produce large numbers of neutrons of 14 Mev energy. Furthermore, the tube is permanently sealed and, thus, the use of pumping techniques in the sonde is avoided. The tube consists of a pressure control, an ion source in which the deuterons are stripped of their electrons, an accelerating gap down which the deuterons are sped by the high voltage, a secondary electron suppressor and a tritium-loaded target. Obviously, the tube requires auxiliary circuitry in a sonde for the control of the ion source, tube pressure, high voltage and other operating variables. Neutron yields, both continuous and pulsed, have been produced under simulated field conditions in the range between 1 and 10 times those conventionally used in neutron logging applications. For the experiments discussed in this paper, neutron-pulse repetition rates in the range between 500 and 5,000 pulses/sec are adequate. Furthermore, by making suitable adjustments in operating conditions, one can vary the pulse width from a minimum of several microseconds up to dc. As will be seen later, the present application to well logging does not require that one have available pulses of neutrons which are appreciably shorter than the time it takes for fast neutrons to slow down to thermal energy in water. As a consequence, much of our interest has been directed towards the operating characteristics of the tube with pulses longer than about 10 microseconds in duration. Our experience to date shows that tubes can be operated in this manner with reasonably constant, average neutron outputs.