Abstract
A new parasitic, mixed-field, neutron-dominated irradiation station has been recently commissioned at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN). The station is installed within the neutron time-of-flight (n_TOF) facility, taking advantage of the secondary radiation produced by the neutron spallation target, with neutrons ranging from 0.025 eV to several hundreds of MeV. The new station allows radiation damage studies to be performed in irradiation conditions that are closer to the ones encountered during the operation of particle accelerators; the irradiation tests carried out in the station will be complementary to the standard tests on materials, usually performed with gamma sources. Samples will be exposed to neutron-dominated doses in the MGy range per year, with minimal impact on the n_TOF facility operation. The station has 24 irradiation positions, each hosting up to of sample material. In view of its proximity to the n_TOF target, inside protective shielding, the irradiation station and its operating procedures have been carefully developed taking into account the safety of personnel and to avoid any unwanted impact on the operation of the n_TOF facility and experiments. Due to the residual radioactivity of the whole area around the n_TOF target and of the irradiated samples, access to the irradiation station is forbidden to human operators even when the n_TOF facility is not in operation. Robots are used for the remote installation and retrieval of the samples, and other optimizations of the handling procedures were developed in compliance with radiation protection regulations and the aim of minimizing doses to personnel. The sample containers were designed to be radiation tolerant, compatible with remote handling, and subject to detailed risk analysis and testing during their development. The whole life cycle of the irradiated materials, including their post-irradiation examinations and final disposal, was considered and optimized.
10 More- Received 29 March 2022
- Accepted 31 August 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.25.103001
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Research News
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