The Scheme of an Intense Neutron Generator for the Transmutation of Radioactive Wastes

The known projects for the transmutation of radioactive waste are based on the use of an accelerator, where particles (protons or deuterons) are accelerated to an energy of about 1000 MeV, coupled with a neutron-production target. For this goal, also another approach can be considered. In the present paper, a storage ring for 100 MeV deuterons with the internal neutron-production target is described, and its main parameters are represented. In such an neutron generator, it would be possible to get neutron fluxes of about 10 17 neutrons/s. The use of accelerators for transmutation and burning of radioactive wastes has been considered during several decades [1,2]. In the usual or traditional scheme, one assumes a proton accelerator, where particles are accelerated to an energy of 800- 1000 MeV, and with currents of accelerated particles near 100 mA. Another possibility is to use particles (e.g. deuterons) accelerated to one order of magnitude lower energies. The accelerated beam is then sent to a storage ring with a "thin " internal neutron-production target. This is a scheme proposed for the transmutation of highly-activated waste [3- 5]. The realization of such a scheme results in a more effective use of accelerated particles. In this paper, a storage ring for 100 MeV deuterons with an internal neutron-production target is described, and its main parameters are represented. The principal scheme of the method is displayed on Fig.1. Fig. 1: The principal scheme for the neutron production. Protons and neutrons are produced through the interactions of deuterons with an internal target. In this case, nuclear transmutation will occur under the flux of neutrons as well as protons with a wide energy spectrum. Interactions of the beam with the neutron-production target result in ionization energy loss and scattering of beam particles in the target. These effects influence considerably the beam dynamics. Therefore, it is necessary to provide special conditions for the conservation of the circulated particles. The ionization energy loss in the target is equal to [6]: