Neutron-production double-differential cross sections of Pb and Bi in proton-induced reactions near 100 MeV

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Meigo, Shinichiro; Satoh, Daiki; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Ishi, Yoshihiro*; Uesugi, Tomonori*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Sugihara, Kenta*; elik, Y.*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 544, p.165107_1 - 165107_15, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2023.165107

The lack of double-differential cross-section (DDX) data for neutron production below the incident proton energy of 200 MeV hinders the validation of spallation models in technical applications, such as research and development of accelerator-driven systems (ADSs). The present study aims to obtain experimental DDX data for ADS spallation target materials in this energy region and identify issues related to the spallation models by comparing them with the analytical predictions. The DDXs for the () reactions of Pb and Bi in the 100-MeV region were measured over an angular range of 30 to 150 using the time-of-flight method. The measurements were conducted at Kyoto University utilizing the FFAG accelerator. The DDXs obtained were compared with calculation results from Monte Carlo-based spallation models and the evaluated nuclear data library, JENDL-5. Comparison between the measured DDX and analytical values based on the spallation models and evaluated nuclear data library indicated that, in general, the CEM03.03 model demonstrated the closest match to the experimental values. Additionally, the comparison highlighted several issues that need to be addressed in order to improve the reproducibility of the proton-induced neutron-production DDX in the 100 MeV region by these spallation models and evaluated nuclear data library.

Nuclide production cross sections in proton-induced reactions on Bi at GeV energies

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita*; Meigo, Shinichiro; Takeshita, Hayato; Maekawa, Fujio

EPJ Web of Conferences, 284, p.01033_1 - 01033_4, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202328401033

no abstracts in English

Design and beam dynamics studies of an ADS RFQ based on an equipartitioned beam scheme

Yee-Rendon, B.; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Nakano, Keita; Maekawa, Fujio; Meigo, Shinichiro; Jameson, R. A.*

Proceedings of 19th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.499 - 502, 2023/01

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is designing a 30-MW proton linear accelerator (linac) for the accelerator-driven subcritical system (ADS). The Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) is an essential component for the performance of high-intensity linac, especially in ADS, where stringent reliability is demanded. The present RFQ will capture a 20 mA proton beam and accelerate from the energy of 35 keV to 2.5 MeV, where the space-charge effects are severe. The present RFQ's design employs the equipartitioning (EP) beam scheme to control the emittance growth and compactness. As a result, the beam halo formation was minimized and allowed to optimize the superconducting linac downstream part. A remarkable feature of this RFQ is the low Kilpatrick factor of 1.2 adopted to achieve high stability by reducing the probability of surface sparking on the vane. This work presents and discusses the results of this RFQ design.

Availability analysis for the 30-MW proton linac of the JAEA-ADS project

Yee-Rendon, B.; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Nakano, Keita; Maekawa, Fujio; Meigo, Shinichiro

Proceedings of 19th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.286 - 290, 2023/01

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is designing a 30-MW proton linear accelerator (linac) as one of the fundamental components for its accelerator-driven subcritical system (ADS) project. ADS accelerators demand extremely high reliability and availability to avoid thermal stress in the subcritical reactor structures. Thus, reliability and availability assessments of the accelerator are mandatory to detect weakness in the lattice designed and evaluate redundancy configurations to fulfill the demanded operation. This study applied the Reliability Block Diagrams (RBD) method to calculate the Medium Time Between Failures (MTBF) for different linac configurations: all the linac's elements in a series configuration and a combination of hot-standby for the low-energy section of the linac and k-out-n redundancy for the high-energy part. The estimation considered the detailed arrangement of the cavities and magnets that compose the linac lattice. In this report, we describe the reliability model of the JAEA-ADS linac, report the MTBF results, and point out the potential route toward operating with the required availability.

Measurement of 107-MeV proton-induced double-differential neutron yields for iron for research and development of accelerator-driven systems

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita; Meigo, Shinichiro; Satoh, Daiki; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Ishi, Yoshihiro*; Uesugi, Tomonori*; Kuriyama, Yasutoshi*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; et al.

JAEA-Conf 2022-001, p.129 - 133, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2022-001

For accurate prediction of neutronic characteristics for accelerator-driven systems (ADS) and a source term of spallation neutrons for reactor physics experiments for the ADS at Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA), we have launched an experimental program to measure nuclear data on ADS using the Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) accelerator at Kyoto University. As part of this program, the proton-induced double-differential thick-target neutron-yields (TTNYs) and cross-sections (DDXs) for iron have been measured with the time-of-flight (TOF) method. For each measurement, the target was installed in a vacuum chamber on the beamline and bombarded with 107-MeV proton beams accelerated from the FFAG accelerator. Neutrons produced from the targets were detected with stacked, small-sized neutron detectors composed of the NE213 liquid organic scintillators and photomultiplier tubes, which were connected to a multi-channel digitizer mounted with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), for several angles from the incident beam direction. The TOF spectra were obtained from the detected signals and the FFAG kicker magnet's logic signals, where gamma-ray events were eliminated by pulse shape discrimination applying the gate integration method to the FPGA. Finally, the TTNYs and DDXs were obtained from the TOF spectra by relativistic kinematics.

Design and actual performance of J-PARC 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron for high-intensity operation

Yamamoto, Kazami; Kinsho, Michikazu; Hayashi, Naoki; Saha, P. K.; Tamura, Fumihiko; Yamamoto, Masanobu; Tani, Norio; Takayanagi, Tomohiro; Kamiya, Junichiro; Shobuda, Yoshihiro; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 59(9), p.1174 - 1205, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2038301

In the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, the purpose of the 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) is to accelerate a 1 MW, high-intensity proton beam. To achieve beam operation at a repetition rate of 25 Hz at high intensities, the RCS was elaborately designed. After starting the RCS operation, we carefully verified the validity of its design and made certain improvements to establish a reliable operation at higher power as possible. Consequently, we demonstrated beam operation at a high power, namely, 1 MW. We then summarized the design, actual performance, and improvements of the RCS to achieve a 1 MW beam.

Beam dynamics studies for fast beam trip recovery of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency accelerator-driven subcritical system

Yee-Rendon, B.; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Nakano, Keita; Maekawa, Fujio; Meigo, Shinichiro

Physical Review Accelerators and Beams (Internet), 25(8), p.080101_1 - 080101_17, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.25.080101

High reliability and availability are primary goals for the operation of particle accelerators, especially for accelerator-driven subcritical systems (ADS). ADSs employ high-power beams for the transmutation of minor actinide; as a result, the amount and the radiotoxicity of the nuclear waste are considerably reduced. To this end, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency is designing a 30-MW continuous wave (cw) super-conducting proton linear accelerator (linac) that supplies neutrons to an 800-MW subcritical reactor by a spallation process. The major challenge for an ADS linac is the strict control of the beam trip duration and its frequency to avoid thermal stress in the subcritical reactor structures. The maximum allowed beam trips for failures longer than a few seconds are estimated to be far below the rate achieved in current accelerators. Thus, we implemented a combination of hot standby and local compensation that enables a fast beam recovery. This work comprehensively investigated the tolerance of our linac lattice for the local compensations for failures in superconducting cavities and magnets. This scheme includes simultaneous compensation of multiple cavities in independent and same cryomodules that significantly enhance the reliability of the linac. The returned schemes present acceptable beam performance to guarantee the integrity of the linac and the beam transport to the target; moreover, they satisfy the beam stability in the beam window. In addition, the readjusted elements are subjected to moderate stress to ensure a sustainable operation. This manuscript reports the beam dynamics results toward fulfilling the high reliability demanded by an ADS linac.

Status of the JAEA-ADS superconducting linac design

Yee-Rendon, B.; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Meigo, Shinichiro; Maekawa, Fujio

Proceedings of 64th ICFA Advanced Beam Dynamics Workshop on High Intensity and High Brightness Hadron Beams (ICFA-HB2021) (Internet), p.30 - 34, 2022/04

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is working in the research and development of an Accelerator Driven Subcritical System (ADS) for the transmutation of nuclear waste. To this end, JAEA is designing a 30-MW CW proton linear accelerator (linac) with a beam current of 20 mA. The JAEA-ADS linac starts with a Normal Conducting (NC) up to an energy of 2.5 MeV. Then, five Superconducting (SC) sections accelerate the beam up to 1.5 GeV. The biggest challenge for this ADS linac is the stringent reliability required to avoid thermal stress in the subcritical reactor, which is higher than the achieved in present accelerators. For this purpose, the linac pursues a strong-stable design that ensures the operation with low beam loss and fault-tolerance capabilities to continue operating in case of failure. This work presents the beam dynamics results toward achieving high reliability for the JAEA-ADS linac.

Determination of accelerator parameters for subcriticality measurement of accelerator-driven system before operation

Katano, Ryota; Nishihara, Kenji; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Meigo, Shinichiro

JAEA-Research 2021-016, 16 Pages, 2022/03

JAEA-Research-2021-016.pdf:1.65MB

It has to be confirmed that the accelerator-driven system (ADS), which is dedicated to transmuting minor actinides, is subcritical in any state by measurements. In the previous research, we have proposed a procedure in which the core safely and efficiently approaches the target subcriticality before the operation. In this procedure, the reference value of the subcriticality at the initial state is measured by the area ratio method capable of the absolute value measurement. The area ratio method uses a pulsed neutron source. However, specific and practical parameters of the accelerator for the area ratio method have not been determined. In this study, we determined the accelerator parameters with the consideration of the uncertainties derived by the dead-time of the detector and the statistical error of the count ratio. In addition, we estimate the coating amount of the sample nuclide in the assumption of the use of the fission chambers.

Experimental plan for displacement damage cross sections using 120-GeV protons at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Iwamoto, Yosuke; Yoshida, Makoto*; Meigo, Shinichiro; Yonehara, Katsuya*; Ishida, Taku*; Nakano, Keita; Abe, Shinichiro; Iwamoto, Hiroki; Spina, T.*; Ammigan, K.*; et al.

JAEA-Conf 2021-001, p.138 - 143, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2021-001

To predict the operating lifetime of materials in high-energy radiation environments at proton accelerator facilities, Monte Carlo code are used to calculate the number of displacements per atom (dpa). However, there is no experimental data in the energy region above 30 GeV. In this presentation, we introduce our experimental plan for displacement cross sections with 120-GeV protons at Fermilab Test Beam Facility. Experiments will be performed for the US fiscal year 2022. We developed the sample assembly with four wire sample of Al, Cu, Nb and W with 250-m diameter and 4-cm length. The sample assembly will be maintained at around 4 K by using a cryocooler in a vacuum chamber. Then, changes in the electrical resistivity of samples will be obtained under 120-GeV proton irradiation. Recovery of the accumulated defects through isochronal annealing, which is related to the defect concentration in the sample, will also be measured after the cryogenic irradiation.