PROBLEMS OF ATOMIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Series: Nuclear and Reactor Constants

since 1971

Русский (РФ)

ISSN 2414-1038 (online)

Authors & Affiliations

Horasanov G.L., Ivanov A.P., Blokhin A.I.
A.I. Leypunsky Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia

Abstract

Presently in Europe the demonstration facility PDS-XADS, a subcritical reactor driven by a proton beam with proton energy 600 MeV and current 6 mA, is developed. The eutectic Pb(45%)-Bi(55%) as a material for the PDS-XADS target is proposed. After 4 months of irradiation of such a target, radio nuclides Po-210 with activity 4·109 Bq/kg and Bi-207 with activity 2·109 Bq/kg will be induced in this eutectic. These activities are much, by 5 orders of magnitude, greater than their clearance levels. In the paper, with the aim to reduce the target activity, a possibility to harden the target neutron spectrum by using the eutectic Pb-208(80%)-Bi(20%) in which natural lead (Pb-nat) is replaced by the lead isotope, Pb-208, is considered. This proposal could be realized in the PDS-XADS facility because the reactor and target coolants are separated and the operating temperature of the target coolant is enhanced, ~350-450°С. Relatively small quantity of target coolant permits to consider the usage of the low moderating lead isotope, Pb-208, as the main part of the eutectic.

Keywords electronuclear system, lead isotopes, lead-bismuth eutectic, target radioactivity, hard neutron spectrum, core, target.

Article Text (in Russian, PDF)

References

UDC 621.039

Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. Series: Nuclear Constants, issue 1-2, 2005