Calculation of radiation damage effects of 800 MeV protons in a “thin” copper target

Abstract

Radiation damage effects of 800 MeV protons incident on a 1 cm thick copper target have been calculated by using the nucleon-meson transport code to determine the nuclear reactions produced by the protons, and the theory of Lindhard et al. to evaluate the resultant damage energy deposited in the target. Damage effects were found to be nearly uniform across the 1 cm target thickness, and the results obtained can be expressed in cross section form applicable to target thicknesses from about 0.01 cm to 2 cm. The calculation yielded a damage energy cross section (depending slightly on target geometry) of about 350 barn-keV, a nuclear transmutation cross section of 1.0 barn, and indicated copious proton, neutron, and helium production. Comparison of the cross sections obtained with those of several neutron spectra of reactor interest suggests that medium energy proton bombardment may be a useful method for simulating neutron-induced radiation damage effects.