The intense neutron generator of 14 MeV neutrons

An innovative intense neutron generator of 14 MeV neutrons for the irradiation of future reactor materials is presented. Negative pions are produced inside a 5–10 T magnetic field by an intense deuteron beam interacting with a carbon target. The pions and the muons from pion decay in flight are collected in the backward direction and stopped in a deuterium-tritium-hydrogen target of high density. Using an 18 MW deuteron beam at 1.5 GeV (12 mA=7.5 × 10¹⁶d/s), circa 10¹⁶gt^– /s can be generated, decaying to muons of which up to 10¹⁵ µ^–/s stop in the D/T/H mixture. Assuming X_c=100 fusions per muon, the µCF source produces 14 MeV neutrons with a source strength of up to 10¹⁷ n/s, i.e. a neutron power of 200 kW. The environment of the second target, the neutron source itself, can be made to resemble part of the Tokamak ring to be simulated for irradiation test samples.