Characterization of lead–bismuth eutectic target material for accelerator driven transmuters

Lead–bismuth eutectic (LBE) is under consideration as a target material with high-energy protons for generating neutrons to drive actinide and fission product transmuters. A characterization has been performed to study the performance of this target material as a function of the main variables and the design selections. The characterization includes the neutron yield, the spatial energy deposition, the neutron spectrum, the beam window performance, and the target buffer requirements. The characterization has also considered high-energy deuteron particles to study the impact on the target neutronic performance. The obtained results quantify the LBE target material performance with proton or deuteron particles as a function of the target variables and selections.