Phoenix, LLC, a Wisconsin-based nuclear technology company, has secured $4 million in funding from the US Army to demonstrate innovative neutron-based methods of nondestructive testing utilizing its high flux neutron generators.
Phoenix’s latest contract funds demonstration of a high-throughput, high-resolution thermal neutron imaging system as well as a fast neutron imaging system. Further, Phoenix will take the first steps toward fusing neutron radiographs with X-rays to present inspectors with complementary information in the form of a hybrid image.
“With N-ray and X-ray capabilities merged, the technology Phoenix is developing will be instrumental in the inspection of large, complex munitions for the military and vital to ensuring our warfighters continue to receive safe and effective munitions produced in the most efficient manner,” says Phoenix President Evan Sengbusch.
Phoenix’s relationship with the US Army has been ongoing since 2007. In 2014, Phoenix was awarded a $3 millioncontract with the Army to design and build a first-of-its-kind accelerator-based neutron generator to be used for nondestructive inspection of critical defense components such as munitions and pyrotechnics, which cannot be inspected for certain defects using X-ray. In 2016, Phoenix was awarded two more contracts valued at a combined $3.6 million to design and build a second-generation neutron generator for detecting defective munitions and to conduct standoff buried IED detection using a Phoenix-developed mobile neutron generator prototype. Read the full story here.
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