Distribution and surface enrichment of radionuclides in lead-bismuth eutectic from spallation targets

Abstract

With the development of new high-power neutron spallation sources --both for scientific application and as neutron production tool for accelerator-driven systems-- the demand for experimentally obtained nuclear data on the residue nuclei production in the target is constantly increasing. In the present work, we examined two lead-bismuth-eutectic targets, irradiated with high-energy protons, concerning their radionuclide content and the spatial distribution of selected isotopes. The first one was the so-called ISOLDE target, being irradiated with 1-1.4GeV protons at CERN-ISOLDE, the second one was the MEGAPIE target, irradiated at PSI with 590MeV protons. In particular, we investigated the phenomenon of radionuclide enrichment on free surfaces in both targets. It turned out that considerable accumulation can be found especially in the case of lanthanides. The depletion process is enhanced at increased temperatures. The results are compared with theoretical predictions; some possible consequences of the findings are illustrated.