About the Authors

Camille Bélanger-Champagne

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

camille.belanger-champagne@helsinki.fi

Affiliation Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki, Finland

Hannes Vainionpää

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation JHV Physics, Riihimäki, Finland

Pauli Peura

Roles Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki, Finland

Harri Toivonen

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation HT Nuclear, Hyvinkää, Finland

Paula Eerola

Roles Funding acquisition, Resources, Supervision

Affiliation Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki, Finland

Peter Dendooven

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki, Finland

Competing Interests

Author H.V. is a founder and majority owner of JHV Physics Oy. JHV Physics Oy paid a consultation fee to HT Nuclear Ltd for work done on this project. HT Nuclear Ltd is owned by author H.T. who is the only employee of the company. HT Nuclear has a contract with EC/JRC/ERNCIP on Radiation and Nuclear Security. H.T. is leading an international expert group which makes initiatives to develop European nuclear security. More than ten reports have been published, none directly dealing with neutron generators (see https://erncip-project.jrc.ec.europa.eu/downloads). H.T. is a member of the Advisory Group for the C-BORD project (H2020, see http://www.cbord-h2020.eu). This research consortium develops five detection technologies for nuclear security; one of them is active interrogation of containers with fast neutrons. This technology is fully distinct from the one discussed in this article. C-BORD does not pay any fee to H.T. personally, nor to HT Nuclear Ltd. H.T. is a board member of CBRNE Suomi ry (http://www.cbrne-suomi.fi/index.php?id=1) which is an NGO supporting nuclear security in Finland. Active interrogation methods are not on its agenda. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE editorial policies and criteria, or to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.