Measurements of neutronic characteristics of rectangular and cylindrical coupled hydrogen moderators

甲斐 哲也; 加美山 隆*; 平賀 富士夫*; 大井 元貴; 広田 克也*; 鬼柳 善明*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 55(3), p.283 - 289, 2018/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1394235

Extensive simulation calculations were performed in the design studies of the coupled hydrogen moderator for the pulsed spallation neutron source of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Facility (J-PARC). It was indicated that a para-hydrogen moderator had an intensity-enhanced region at the fringe part, and that pulse shapes emitted from a cylindrical para-hydrogen moderator gave higher pulse-peak intensities with narrower pulse widths than those from a rectangular one without penalizing the time-integrated intensities. To validate the peculiar distribution and advantages in pulse shapes experimentally, some measurements were performed at the neutron source of the Hokkaido University electron linear accelerator facility. It was observed that the neutron intensity was enhanced at edges of the para-hydrogen moderators, whereas it decreased at the same part of the ortho-rich-hydrogen moderator, where the dimension of those moderators was 50 mm in thickness and 120 mm in width and height. The spatial distribution and pulse shapes were also measured for a cylindrical coupled para-hydrogen moderator that has the same dimensions as for the coupled moderator employed for J-PARC. The measured results from the cylindrical moderator were consistent with the results obtained in the design studies for the moderator for J-PARC.