Characteristics of long-pulse and short-pulse spallation-source targets

Conference · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:231861

Ludewig, H; Todosow, M; Powell, J

Generation of sharp neutron pulses is the desired output of a pulsed spallation neutron source (PSNS). These pulses should be approximately 10 {mu}s. wide at half maximum, and preserve as much of the original flux as possible. A proposed PSNS has been designed to operate at an average proton beam power of 5 MW. The PSNS consists of a heavy metal target, surrounded by a reflector, and a selection of moderators. The moderators are connected to beam tubes in which the neutrons are transported to the experimental stations. Reflectors are generally made of good moderating material, in which neutrons leaking from the target are slowed down by elastic scattering, prior to moderation. It is proposed to investigate the possibility of using reflectors which slow neutrons down by inelastic scattering rather than elastic scattering. In a purely inelastic scattering medium neutron pulses leaking from the heavy metal target will tend to preserve their original shape in both energy and time. We will examine the effect of different reflectors and proton pulse lengths on the neutron pulses in the moderators. This study will be carried out using a simple target configuration. In this way effects introduced by complicated target arrangements can be avoided. All the analyses presented in this paper were carried out using the LAHET code system (LCS). This code system consists of two major modules: (1) LAHET, a modified version of the HETC intranuclear cascade code for evaluations above 20 MeV, and (2) HMCNP, a modified version of the well known MCNP transport code for calculations from 20 MeV down to thermal energies. Both modules employ a combinatorial surface/cell specification of the problem geometry which permits modeling of the target configurations with minimal approximations. In addition, HMCNP employs nuclear data from the ENDF/B files in essentially unapproximated point-wise form which avoid the complications associated with generation of group cross sections.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 231861
• Report Number(s): BNL--62715; CONF-960306--20; ON: DE96008217; BR: ?
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
66 PHYSICS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
DESIGN
L CODES
MODERATORS
NEUTRON REFLECTORS
NEUTRON SOURCES
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR DATA COLLECTIONS
PULSES
SPALLATION