Development of a high-power, water-cooled beryllium target for the production of neutrons in a high-current tandem accelerator

摘要

A water-cooled beryllium target, capable of handling intense ion beams with power densities near 6 kw/cm~2 is being developed and tested in conjunction with the high current tandem acceleator at MIT's Laboratory for Accelerator Beam Applications (LABA). This target will be used to generate a high flux of neutrons via either the ~9Be(p, n) or ~9Be(d, n) reaction for use in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). Water cooling is provided by submerged jet flow impinging on the back surface of the target. Initial testing under low coolant flow rates indicates that the target temperature rise is linearly dependent on flow rate up to the point of critical heat flux. The critical heat flux is depednent on coolant velocity, nozzle diameter, and nozzle to target spacing. Design calculations will be compared with experimental measurements of target performance.