Charged particle induced reactions on beryllium as a fast neutron source for irradiation experiments

¹ Nuclear Physics Institute of The Czech Academy of Sciences, p.r.i., Rez No. 130, 250 68 Rez, Czechia
² Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Brehova 7, 115 19 Prague, Czechia

^* Corresponding author: milan.stefanik@fjfi.cvut.cz

Published online: 26 May 2023

Abstract

Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (NPI CAS) in Rez operates the compact accelerator-driven NG-2 fast neutron source. The NG-2 neutron source uses proton (up to 35 MeV) and deuteron (up to 20 MeV) beams extracted from the isochronous cyclotron U-120M and beryllium target station for broad neutron spectrum production and lithium target station for quasi-monoenergetic neutron field production (the p+Li(C) reaction on thin target). These sources are primarily focused on nuclear data measurement and validation, especially for the future fusion energetics (DEMO and IFMIF-DONES research programs). To extend their experimental utilization mostly towards some more traditional research reactor applications (such as the neutron activation analysis and material research), the neutron fields generated by the p+Be and d+Be source reactions for various energies of charged particle beams provided by the U-120M cyclotron have been recently studied using the multi-foil activation technique. New neutron fields based on the p(35 MeV)+Be, p(30 MeV)+Be, p(24 MeV)+Be, and p(20 MeV)+Be source reactions as well as the d(20 MeV)+Be, d(15 MeV)+Be, and d(10 MeV)+Be reactions are available at NPI CAS now.