Lithium Fluoride Thick Target for nuclear engineering sales@dmphotonics.com

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• published: 16 Jan 2014
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Lithium Fluoride Thick Target sales@dmphotonics.com Featured research: At present, energy production by nuclear reactors is the only realistic alternative to the pressing issue of scarcity of fossil fuels and the increase of atmospheric CO2. The scientific and engineering community is working intensively on novel ideas for the design of safer and more efficient nuclear plants and on solutions of the long standing problems in the industry. One such idea is to explore the possibility of using the element of Thorium for production of the fissile material. Various schemes were proposed to convert "fertile" and abundant 232Th to fissile 233U via capture of fast neutrons. Thus bred 233U can be later recharged into the reactor core for further energy production. Another line of active research is connected to the radioactive "waste" of nuclear fission reactors, which raises intense, strong negative sentiments in the general public. The main concern is due to some long-lived waste products with half-lives of the order of many thousand years. Since current technology can not guarantee the integrity of a geological isolation of waste burial sites for such long periods, our society seeks novel solutions to this problem so as not to burden future generation with a potentially hazardous scenario of contamination. Intense sources of energetic neutrons are the tool to achieve these goals. Even though at present there is no nuclear power plant in Israel, the R&D; foundation that will be established as a result of our proposal may become of importance in placing the Weizmann Institute, and Israel in general, on the future map of international efforts towards the implementation of these scenarios. This proposal aims at R&D; work that takes advantage of the unique possibilities offered by the newly constructed SARAF accelerator at the Soreq Research center, Israel. The SARAF accelerator is currently built at the Soreq research center. High intensity and a wide spectral range of neutron source that will be obtained at SARAF as result of a 4 mA 40 MeV deuteron beam impinging on suitable materials will allow one to perform numerous experiments. This facility opens a possibility for placing Israel on the frontier of nuclear engineering science. We identify two possible research directions for the use of such intense neutron source in the area of nuclear energy research: 1. measurements of 232Th to 233U conversion yields and, 2. measurements of transmutation yields of long-lived minor actinide radioactive waste products. Both directions are subjects of intense discussions and research of the international community. All possible schemes under consideration require utilization of intense sources of energetic neutrons. The SARAF accelerator will provide the researchers with such a source. As the commissioning of Phase II of the SARAF project will take a few years we plan to start the first experiments using a neutron generator available at Soreq and Phase I of SARAF. At initial stage significant effort will be directed on the measuring neutron spectra at various conditions (beam energy, targets, moderators) and comparison with calculations and literature. The first irradiations of Thorium samples will be also made at this stage when Thorium neutron capture and neutron induced fission yields will be determined using gamma-spectroscopy analysis of the irradiated samples. The similar measurements for long-lived components of radioactive waste will be performed only after commissioning of the Phase II of the project. The results of measurements will be compared with calculations with purpose of validation of existing simulation codes. The obtained data will be important for design of the future transmutation and thorium conversion facilities. It is important to note the close interplay of our proposal with the growing public awareness and interest in this subject of cleaner nuclear energy. As an example, we would like to refer to a recent official Position Paper on Nuclear Energy of the European Physical Society (EPS) [1], written by the Nuclear Physics Board of the EPS (of which MH is a member) and in which the subjects different fuel cycles and of transmutation is strongly recommended as important future directions. The present proposal is of an exploratory nature, aiming at establishing the necessary conditions and tools for much more detailed and far-reaching future goals.