Conference

Abstract

Use of a high-power electron linac as the driver accelerator for a Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facility is proposed. An electron beam of 30 MeV and 100 kW can produce nearly 5×1013 fissions/s from an optimized 235U target and about 60% of this from a natural uranium target. An electron beam can be readily transmitted through a thin window at the exit of the accelerator vacuum system and transported a short distance through air to a water-cooled Bremsstrahlung-production target. The Bremsstrahlung radiation can, in turn, be transported through air to the isotope-production target. This separates the accelerator vacuum system, the Bremsstrahlung target and the isotope-production target, reducing remote handling problems. The electron beam can be scanned over a large target area to reduce the power density on both the Bremsstrahlung and isotope-production targets. These features address one of the most pressing technological challenges of a high-power RIB facility, namely the production of high yields of neutron-rich ions with reasonable power density in the target. The cost of an electron linac of the required specifications, including the facility shielding, is significantly less than the cost of any other primary-beam accelerator that could produce a comparable fission yield. A high-power electron linac could also be used with a multifoil helium-jet target. A large number of thin uranium foils could be irradiated with the scanned Bremsstrahlung beam and the fission fragments captured in aerosol-loaded helium and transported to an ion source that is well removed from the intense radiation fields of the primary target. The fission yield would be less than 1% of that available from a thick target, but this approach might be the easiest technical solution to obtain useable yields with manageable radiation-safety problems.