Development of a high-brightness and high-current electron gun for high-flux -ray generation

Nishimori, Nobuyuki; Nagai, Ryoji; Matsuba, Shunya; Hajima, Ryoichi; Yamamoto, Masahiro*; Honda, Yosuke*; Miyajima, Tsukasa*; Uchiyama, Takashi*; Kuriki, Masao*

The quantification of fissile materials such as uranium-235 and plutonium-239 in spent fuel assemblies requires isotope-specific identification. We propose the use of nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) to identify the isotopic composition of sample materials nondestructively. The proposed nondestructive isotope identification system requires a high-intensity mono-energetic -ray beam. Although a mono-energetic -ray beam can be generated using a conventional laser Compton scattering technique, the generation of a high-intensity -ray beam requires an electron beam of unprecedentedly high brightness, which can be generated with an advanced accelerator system known as the energy recovery linac (ERL). A technological challenge of the ERL system, which we have addressed, is the development of a high-brightness, high-current electron gun. Our current status of development and operational experience of our gun is presented.