The continued development of the Spallation Neutron Source external antenna H{sup -} ion source
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830-6471 (United States)
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609 (United States)
The U.S. Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is an accelerator-based, pulsed neutron-scattering facility, currently in the process of ramping up neutron production. In order to ensure that the SNS will meet its operational commitments as well as provide for future facility upgrades with high reliability, we are developing a rf-driven, H{sup -} ion source based on a water-cooled, ceramic aluminum nitride (AlN) plasma chamber. To date, early versions of this source have delivered up to 42 mA to the SNS front end and unanalyzed beam currents up to {approx}100 mA (60 Hz, 1 ms) to the ion source test stand. This source was operated on the SNS accelerator from February to April 2009 and produced {approx}35 mA (beam current required by the ramp up plan) with availability of {approx}97%. During this run several ion source failures identified reliability issues, which must be addressed before the source re-enters production: plasma ignition, antenna lifetime, magnet cooling, and cooling jacket integrity. This report discusses these issues, details proposed engineering solutions, and notes progress to date.
- OSTI ID:
- 22053845
- Journal Information:
- Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 81, Issue 2; Conference: ICIS 2009: 13. international conference on ion sources, Gatlinburg, TN (United States), 20-25 Sep 2009; Other Information: (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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