A Conceptual Design for an Accelerator System for a Very High-Intensity Pulsed Neutron Source Using a Linear Induction Accelerator

Several accelerator-based intense neutron sources have been constructed or designed by various laboratories around the world. All of these facilities have a common scheme of a linac and synchrotron or accumulator ring, and the system produces the proton energy of 500-1000 MeV. The average beam currents range from a few mA to a few hundred mA. The protons are then used to generate high flux neutrons by spallation out of heavy metal targets. In a synchrotron system, the protons are already bunched, and thus the pulse rate of the neutron beam is that of the repetition rate of the synchrotron. For an accumulator system, the pulse rate is determined by the extraction repetition rate of the accumulator. We have conceptually designed a new system that uses a linear induction accelerator which can be operated for an average beam current up to a few mA with a repetition rate up to 100 Hz. The details of the design will be given.