Investigation of neutronic parameters of natU spallation target irradiated by low-energy protons

Accelerator-based neutron sources could outstandingly compete with the reactor-based ones, which are widely used for research aims and radioisotope production. Spallation neutron sources are used by many research centers. In this work, the potential of natural uranium spallation target irradiated by low-energy protons for production of an external neutron source was investigated. MCNPX code was used to model the spallation target. The results showed using 30-MeV protons of 100 µA current a neutron flux in order of 107 n/s·cm2 leaks from an optimized-dimension target. Different physical models available in the computational code do not result in significant relative discrepancies for neutron yield and deposited heat calculations. Water with a velocity of 0.6 m/s can be used as coolant for the spallation target to keep the surface temperature under 100 °C at atmospheric pressure.