The linear proton accelerator for the MYRRHA-ADS

Dirk Vandeplassche, Luis Medeiros-Romao

    Research outputpeer-review

    Abstract

    In order to obtain large yields of fast neutrons it is common practice to
    use a spallation mechanism by bombarding some high atomic number target
    material with a high energy and high intensity proton beam. This principle is
    used in powerful pulsed neutron sources like ISIS [r], SNS [2] and ESS [3]. It
    is also used as a continuous neutron generator, e.g. at SINQ [4]. The subcritical core of an Accelerator Driven System (ADS) requires a comparable neutron yield for the assembly to deliver a sizeable amount of fission power.
    Hence the same spallation mechanism is considered.
    In the case of the MYRRHA project [j], being an ADS delivering around
    80 MWth, the neutron production has to be in the 10'7 n/s range. The
    geometry of its core is optimized for 600 MeV protons. The requested
    maximum beam intensity is then obtained from Monte-Carlo simulations
    using the MCNPX code [6] as 4 mA. The fundamental beam requirements
    for MYRRHA are summarized in table I.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)99-114
    Number of pages16
    JournalRevue des questions scientifiques
    Volume184
    Issue number1+2
    StatePublished - 2013

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