Radiation damage problems in high power spallation neutron sources

Abstract

In planning the next generation of spallation sources with proton beam powers of several MW (as, for example, the European Spallation Source, ESS), it was soon recognized that materials' degradation by radiation damage will be the most problematic factor in determining the efficiency, lifetime and availability of high power spallation targets. This article gives a short introduction to the physics of radiation damage in metals and points out the differences in the irradiation conditions for materials in fission, fusion and spallation environments, respectively. Based on the expected displacement damage (dpa), hydrogen and helium production, temperatures and stresses we then attempt to identify the critical radiation damage effects for target, window and structural materials. The following compilation of data on proton irradiation of candidate materials (Ta, W, Al and their alloys) shows that the present data base is by far too narrow for materials' selection or lifetime predictions. Since such information is urgently needed for conceptual designs, further investigations are planned beginning with the examination (mechanical tests and TEM in hot cells) of already irradiated specimens: a Ta target assembly removed recently from ISIS at RAL; steel and Al beam windows and TEM specimens irradiated in LANL and PSI, respectively. Parallel to these efforts new irradiations are foreseen in a dual beam facility, in ISOLDE at CERN, and in the spallation source SINQ which is expected to start operation in 1996.