Author/Authors :
Medarde، نويسنده , , Marisa and Moormann، نويسنده , , Rainer and Frison، نويسنده , , Ruggero and Pu?niak، نويسنده , , Robert J. and Pomjakushina، نويسنده , , Ekaterina and Conder، نويسنده , , Kazimierz and Platacis، نويسنده , , Ernests and Dai، نويسنده , , Yong and Kiselev، نويسنده , , Daniela and Zanini، نويسنده , , Luca and T?r?k، نويسنده , , Szabina and Zagyvai، نويسنده , , Peter and Heinitz، نويسنده , , Stephan and Neuhausen، نويسنده , , J?rg and Schumann، نويسنده , , Dorothea and Thomsen، نويسنده , , Knud، نويسنده ,
Abstract :
One of the main technical concerns of Megawatt-class spallation neutron sources is the removal of the heat deposited in the target station. A way to overcome it is to use targets consisting of flowing liquid metals, but the already tested materials – mercury and lead–bismuth eutectic (LBE) – are not unproblematic. We show here that another eutectic alloy containing lead and gold (LGE) could be a suitable alternative. Besides a chemical toxicity lower than mercury, this low melting-point alloy has the advantage of being solid at RT. Moreover, it combines a neutron production similar to mercury and LBE with smaller amounts of alpha-emitting nuclides, relieving safety and environmental requirements. Further advantages are a reduced decay heat a few weeks after stopping operation and density variations in the solid state significantly smaller than LBE. Steel corrosion appears to be more important than expected but if it remains manageable, the current research suggests that LGE could be a valuable alternative to LBE and mercury.
