Progress of the first accelerator-based compact neutron source in Hungary

Abstract

The first compact accelerator-based neutron source (CANS) for industrial and healthcare use in Hungary, the ‘LvB’ project, is being installed at the premises of Mirrotron Ltd. at Martonvásár. In the first phase of the operation, a fast neutron spectrum with energies up to 1 MeV is generated by the impact of a 2.5 MeV and 1 mA time-average intensity pulsed proton beam on a Li target. This target is surrounded by a lead reflector and the beam extraction opening faces of a bi-spectral para-H2 and H2O quasi-one-dimensional moderator, to provide cold and thermal neutron beams primarily for applied material investigations by neutron scattering. Recent results of MCNP6.2 simulations of the initial configuration of the ‘LvB’ compact neutron source confirm the expected neutron beam brightnesses to be approx. 107 n/cm2/s/sr/Å time-average at 4 Å neutron wavelength.