Neutronic applications laboratory for ESS-Bilbao

The ESS-Bilbao Accelerator Center site at the Lejoa UPV/EHU campus, will be provided with a proton accelerator up to 300-400 MeV. In the first construction phase, a beam extraction will be set at the end of the DTL, which will produce a 50 MeV proton beam with an average intensity of 2.25 mA and 1.5 ms pulses at a frequency of 20 Hz. These beam characteristics allow to configure a low intensity neutron source based in the Be (p, n) reaction, which enables neutronic experimentation similar to that of the Low Energy Neutron Source (LENS) at Indiana University. The total beam power will be 112 kW, so the configuration of the neutron production target will be based on a rotating disk of beryllium slabs facing the beam on one side and a cryogenic methane moderator on the other, with the target-moderator system surrounded by a beryllium reflector. In this paper, first estimates will be presented for thermomechanical conditions of the target cooling scheme, neutron source intensities, and cold neutron pulses. Main applications foreseen are summarized.