6th HBS Workshop 2020
17-18 September 2020
Workshop Programme
Programme of the 6th International HBS Meeting Virtual Meeting
The 6thInternational HBS Meeting is held as a virtual meeting via the bluejeans video conference platform. The link for access to the meeting room are as follows:
Thursday, 17 Sept. 2020: https://bluejeans.com/981575381 Friday, 18 Sept. 2020: https://bluejeans.com/468448325
For any information on how to use bluesjeans and present powerpoint or pdf files please refer to the bluesjeans support page
https://support.bluejeans.com/s/getting-started-with-bluejeans
https://support.bluejeans.com/s/article/Getting-Started-Guide-BlueJeans-Meetings
The bluejeans meeting rooms are available on both days starting at 12:45 CET. You may test your presentations with the screen share icon on top of the screen.
Thursday 17 Sept, 2020 13:00 Welcome
Status of projects, Europe 13:05 F. Ott, LLB
“SONATE Status”
13:20 T. Gutberlet, JCNS
“HBS Status”
13:35 P. Mastinu, INFN
“The proposed neutron sources at Legnaro Laboratory”
13:45 F. Sordo, ESS-Bilbao
“ESS-Bilbao developments update” 13:55 F. Mezei
“Mirrotron CANS”
14:10 Break
Status of projects, continued and abroad 14:30
(21:30 JST)
Y. Otake, RIKEN
“RANS at RIKEN”
14:45 (15:45 IDT)
A. Kreisel, Soreq
“The Saraf project and status”
15:00 M. Wolff, U Uppsalla
“UppCANS project”
15:10 (9:10 EDT)
D. Marquardt, U Windsor
“CANS for Canada”
15:20 Break
New initiatives 15:40 F. Ott, LLB
“LENS CANS White Paper”
15:50 I. Swainson, IAEA
“IAEA Activities concerning CANS”
16:00 T. Brückel, JCNS
“ELENA”
16:10 Wrap up and discussion on next steps and common future work
16:30 End of Day 1
16:30 ELENA Meeting (ELENA members only)
Friday 18 Sept, 2020
Accelerator developments 13:00 H. Podlech, IAP Frankfurt
“HBS accelerator developments”
13:15 J. Schwindling, CEA
“The 50kW line and target on the IPHI - Neutrons platform”
13:30 I. Bustinduy, ESS-Bilbao
“ESS-Bilbao accelerator developments”
Target / Moderator developments 13:45 P. Zakalek, JCNS
“Target development at HBS, Experimental Area Big Karl”
14:00 A. Schwab, JCNS
“Cold moderator systems at HBS”
14:15 F. Ott, LLB
“Design of a para-hydrogen tube moderator”
14:25 Break
Science and Instrument developments 14:45 C. Langer, FH Aachen/Jülich
“Instruments for Astrophysics at CANS”
15:00 J. Voigt, JCNS
“Neutron spectrometers for HBS”
15:15 U. Rücker, JCNS
“Reflectometer for industry for HBS”
15:30 Wrap up and discussion on next steps and common future work
16:00 End of Day 2
Program with abstracts Thursday 17 Sept, 2020 13:00 Welcome
Status of projects, Europe 13:05 F. Ott, LLB
“SONATE Status”
13:20 T. Gutberlet, JCNS
“HBS Status”
The HBS project aims for a scalable accelerator driven neutron source optimized for scattering and neutron analytics. The whole chain ranging from the accelerator to the target / moderator / shielding assembly and the neutron optics is optimized to the needs of the neutron experiments. This approach makes the HBS very efficient enabling competitive neutron fluxes at sample position compared to existing neutron facilities. The baseline specification of the HBS is a high current low energy proton accelerator with a 100 mA 70 MeV pulsed proton beam to drive a 100 kW neutron source serving up to 3 independent target stations with up to 6 individual instruments at each station for experiments. The current status of the project and its perspective within the European landscape of neutron sources will be given.
13:35 P. Mastinu, INFN
“The proposed neutron sources at Legnaro Laboratory”
13:45 F. Sordo, ESS-Bilbao
“ESS-Bilbao developments update. ARGITU Compact Accelerator Neutron Source”
In the last few years, ESS Bilbao has been focused on the delivery of the Spanish in kind contribution to ESS project. However, during 2019-2020 several key components has been successfully completed (MEBT, Tuning Beam Dump, Monoltih Vessel etc. ) and our team is updating 2013 local source proposal to develop a compact neutron source in Euskadi.
The current proposal for a Compact neutron source, ARGITU, is based on an evolution of the previous source adapted to the on-going developments at our institution. In a consistent way with the available resources at ESS Bilbao, during 2019-2020, the work is being focused primarily in the development of our RFQ system.
13:55 F. Mezei
“Mirrotron CANS”
14:10 Break
Status of projects, continued and abroad 14:30
(21:30 JST)
Y. Otake, RIKEN
“RIKEN RANS project, RANS, RANS-II, RANS-III and RANS-μ”
RIKEN Accelerator-driven compact neutron source, RANS [1-3] has been developed since 2013. There are two major goals of RANS research and development. One is to establish a new compact low energy neutron system model of floor-standing type for industrial on-site use. Another goal is to invent a novel transportable compact neutron system for the preventive maintenance of large scale construction such as a bridge. Pulse neutron of RANS are generated via the 9Be + p reaction of 7MeV proton with thin, 300μm beryllium target. The high brightness development including cold neutron source under up-graded is now performed. The operation schedule of RANS is daily, from Monday to Friday. The neutron imaging [4], diffractometer [5], small angle scattering, prompt gamma-ray activation analysis [6], fast neutron transmission imaging, and fast neutron back-scattered imaging [7] are available, phase contrast imaging instrument is currently under development based on the collaboration of Tohoku Univ. at RANS. RANS-II with 2.49 MeV proton RFQ has started its operation. Back scattered imaging method for large scale structures has been succeeded with RANS-II. Very small proton
RFQ accelerator with 500MHz of RANS-III [8] for transportable non-destructive system out-door use is now in development. For the non-destructive salt concentration measurement of bridges, RANS- μdevelopment has been started. It is plan to be available as shown in Fig.1 in two or three years.
Fig.1 RANS-μ salt meter image diagram during use
[1] Y.Otake, "A Compact Proton Linac Neutron Source at RIKEN", “Applications of Laser-Driven Particle Acceleration” eds. Paul Bolton, et al. (2018) Chapter 19 pp.291-314 CRC Press [2] Y. Yamagata, et.al. "Development of a neutron generating target for compact neutron soruces
using low energy proton beams", Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 305, Issue 3 (2015)pp 787-794
[3] Yoshie Otake, et al. "Research and Development of a Non-destructive Inspection Technique with a Compact Neutron Source", Journal of Disaster Research Vol.12, No.3 (2017) pp.585-592 doi:
10.20965/jdr.2017.p0585
[4] Atsushi Taketani, et al.,” Visualization of water in corroded region of painted steels at a compact neutron source”, ISIJ International, vol.57 N.1(2017) pp.155-161, DOI: 10.2355/isijinternational.
[4] Y. Ikeda, et al. "Nondestructive measurement for water and voids in concrete with compact neutron source", Plasma and Fusion Research Vol.13(2018) pp.2406005-1-5
[5] Pingguang Xu, et al.,” In-house texture measurement using a compact neutron source”, Journal of Applied Crystallography 53, pp444-454, (2020.3)
[6] Y. Wakabayashi, et.al. “A Study on the Non-Destructive Detection of Salt in Concrete Using Neutron-Captured Prompt-Gamma Rays at RANS”, Plasma and Fusion
[7] Y. Ikeda, et al. "Nondestructive measurement for water and voids in concrete with compact neutron source", Plasma and Fusion Research Vol.13(2018) pp.2406005-1-5
[8] S. Ikeda, Y. Otake, T. Kobayashi, and N. Hayashizaki: “Design of 500MHz RFQ linear accelerator for a compact neutron source, RANS-III” Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B 461 (2019) 186–190187
14:45 (15:45 IDT)
A. Kreisel, Soreq
“Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) neutron source”
Phase II of the Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is under construction in the Soreq Nuclear Research Center at Yavne, Israel. Phase II is planned to be operational in 2023. SARAF will be a user facility for basic and applied nuclear physics, based on a 40 MeV, 5 mA CW proton/deuteron superconducting linear accelerator. The high brilliance neutron source target for the full 200 kW beam will be a liquid Gallium-Indium jet target. The liquid Gallium-Indium jet target is based on the very good experience with a liquid Lithium jet target (LiLiT) which operated in phase I of SARAF (SARAF-I, 4 MeV, 2 mA CW protons, 5 MeV 1 mA CW deuterons). A prototype liquid Gallium-Indium jet target was built and tested with beam in SARAF phase I, and it will be used as a beam dump for the first stages of commissioning of phase II.
15:00 M. Wolff, U Uppsalla
“UppCANS: An update”
Currently, the next generation European spallation neutron source the ESS is completed close to Lund (Sweden). This source will deliver the highest brilliant neutrons beams in the world and provide neutrons for users. To take best benefit of this high-end facility knowledge and expertise in the field of neutron scattering needs to be maintained and expanded in the Swedish research community.
However, after the closure of the Studsvik reactor about 15 years ago Sweden does not have a national neutron source for simple measurements, education and technical developments. Ultra compact neutron sources (UCANS) are ideal to fill this gap, since the can provide small facilities and enable easy access by bringing neutron instruments close to the users. The small size and optimised source design provide good brilliance at reasonable cost. Dedicated instrumentation can compete in performance with current small to medium size facilities and complement high brilliance sources in an ideal way.
To take advantage of these developments several UCANS projects have been initiated in the Nordic countries. In Sweden an UppCANs at Uppsala University was proposed as new national research infrastructure. When built, it will ideally provide neutrons for a couple of beam ports and offer a broad range of capabilities allowing the existing community to both complete straightforward measurements and prepare to exploit world leading instruments elsewhere. In addition UppCANs will
provide neutrons at a lower cost for experimental methods that are very relevant for industry, in particular, imaging, doping and activation analysis and the ready accessibility will encourage use in newer domains such as medical and environmental sciences and heritage studies. Ideally, UppCANS will be part of a network of Nordic or European sources with different focus areas.
15:10 (9:10 EDT)
D. Marquardt, U Windsor
“CANS for Canada”
With the retirement of the NRU Reactor at Chalk River Laboratories, Canadian researchers and companies face a huge challenge to maintain and expand the scientific resources needed for research using neutron beams. A group of Canadian neutron scatterers and accelerator physicists are carrying out an initial design and proof of concept study for the development of a compact accelerator-based neutron source in Canada. This study is the first phase in a longer-range research program to develop a compact accelerator-based neutron source which will provide scientists and industry with the neutron beams required to probe the structure and dynamics of matter in many areas of science.
15:20 Break
New initiatives 15:40 F. Ott, LLB
“LENS CANS White Paper”
15:50 I. Swainson, IAEA
“IAEA Activities concerning CANS”
The development of compact accelerators neutron sources (CANS) has progressed significantly in the last two decades. Member States (both advanced and developing) that do not wish to pursue construction of a research reactor are beginning to view CANS as viable alternative local or even national neutron sources. Therefore, during 4-7 November 2019, IAEA hosted the Technical Meeting on Non-spallation Accelerator-based Production of Neutrons in Vienna, which was attended by 27 people from 15 Member States. An IAEA report from this meeting is in preparation that reviews the various accelerator and target choices, the applications that are appropriate for the different CANS technologies, as well as some regulatory and costing considerations relevant to the construction and operation. More recently, during July 27-31, 2020, IAEA hosted the virtual Technical Meeting on Advances in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy with 107 registrants from 20 Member States. An update to TECDOC-1223 Current Status of Neutron Capture Therapy, which has served as a main reference for the field for nearly two decades, is being produced.
During the period since TECDOC-1223, most of the small reactors that were
performing BNCT have closed, but, here too, the ability of CANS to replace research reactors may make a major impact in the field as CANS can be readily placed directly in clinical settings. This new IAEA report will deal with choices of accelerators, targets, and beam shaper assemblies that are most suitable for clinical BNCT.
16:00 T. Brückel, JCNS
“ELENA”
In an effort to bundle efforts towards novel accelerator-driven neutron sources in Europe, it has been proposed to create ELENA – the European Low Energy accelerator-based Neutron facility Association. Aim of the association is to promote cooperation between European laboratories or private companies working in the field of neutron sources based on an accelerator and a stripping reaction to produce neutrons. ELENA will enhance the visibility of the corresponding neutron source projects and be a platform to initiate collaborations, organize conferences, workshops and meetings in order to create an effective eco-system for research and applications in all areas of science and industry around these neutron sources.
16:10 Wrap up and discussion on next steps and common future work
16:30 End of Day 1
Friday 18 Sept, 2020
Accelerator developments 13:00 H. Podlech, IAP Frankfurt
“HBS accelerator developments”
Due to the decommissioning of several reactors, only about half of the neutrons will be available for research in Europe in the next decade despite the commissioning of the ESS. Compact accelerator-based neutron sources (CANS) could close this gap.
The High Brilliance Neutron Source (HBS) currently under development at Forschungszentrum Jülich is scalable in terms of beam energy and power due to its modular design. The driver Linac will accelerate a 100 mA proton beam to 70 MeV.
The Linac is operated with a beam duty cycle of up to 6% (11% RF duty cycle) and can simultaneously deliver three pulse lengths (52 μs, 208 μs and 833 μs) for three neutron target stations. In order to minimize the development effort and the technological risk, state-of-the-art technology of the MYRRHA injector is used. The HBS Linac consists of a front end (ECR source, LEBT, 2.5 MeV double RFQ with integrated MEBT) and a CH-DTL with 35 room temperature CH-cavities. All RF structures are operated at 176.1 MHz and are designed for high duty cycle. Solid- state amplifiers up to 600 kW are used as RF drivers. Due to the beam current and the high average beam power of up to 420 kW, particular attention is paid to beam dynamics. In order to minimize losses, a quasi-periodic lattice with constant negative phase is used. The presentation describes the present design and the challenges of a modern high-power and high-current proton accelerator with high reliability and availability.
13:15 J. Schwindling, CEA
“The 50kW line and target on the IPHI - Neutrons platform”
Following the tests at 3 kW of a Beryllium-based target in 2019 on the IPHI-neutron platform, we will present the design of a 30 – 50 kW target and the upgrades of the IPHI beamline in view of the future tests at high power.
13:30 I. Bustinduy, ESS-Bilbao
“ESS-Bilbao accelerator developments”
In the last year, ESS bilbao acclerator division has been mainlhy focused on the contributions to the ESS. Among many activities, the high RF power conditioning of the complete MEBT RF chain start up and full power conditioning needs to be highlighted.
Some significat activities have started to improve the proton injector. In particular, RF coupler has been redesigend to improve plasma production efficiency. A new RF source based on solid state technology is under study, that would reduce the cost and complexity of the source significantly. Finally, the manufacturing stage of the
RFQ is progressing well, the first segment has proven successfully vacuum strategy and released the tender process for the rest of the segments.
Target / Moderator developments 13:45 P. Zakalek, JCNS
“Target development at HBS, Experimental Area Big Karl”
14:00 A. Schwab, JCNS
“Cold moderator systems at HBS”
The Jülich High Brilliance Neutron Source (J-HBS) will provide neutrons to different instruments by utilizing optimized Target-Moderator-Reflector (TMR) assemblies in the form of multiple target stations with different pulse structures. These TMR units produce neutrons of the required wavelengths by using different combinations of moderators and reflectors. For instruments that require long wavelength neutrons, cryogenic materials are used to slow thermal neutrons down to the cold energy range. These so-called “cold moderators” are optimized with regard to neutron brilliance by choosing the appropriate material and dimensions.
Two commonly used cold moderators, liquid hydrogen and solid mesitylene, were tested in optimized compact geometries at the Big Karl facility of the synchrotron COSY at the Forschungszentrum Jülich by conducting neutron time-of-flight (TOF) measurements. The effects of temperature (mesitylene) and ortho-para ratio (hydrogen) on the moderators’ performance were investigated in systematic experimental parameter studies. The efficiencies of the used cold moderators were compared and neutron transport simulation models have been validated.
With the aim to shift the neutron energy spectrum to even lower values, a cold moderator system is currently being developed, which allows the use of solidified moderators at operating temperatures below 10 K. For this system, methane will be used in phase II, as it is one of the most promising candidates at such low temperatures due to its low-lying energy levels, which allow the transfer of small amounts of energy. However, the use of solid methane is challenging from an engineering perspective due to its low thermal conductivity and poor radiation resistance.
In this presentation, the previously used cryogenic systems will be described and the results of the measurements at Big Karl will be presented. Furthermore, preliminary design aspects of the planned “10 K” cryostat will be discussed.
14:15 F. Ott, LLB
“CONEMO, a cold neutron moderator setup using para-hydrogen”
The Laboratoire Léon Brillouin aims at building a cold neutron moderator using para- hydrogen to cool thermal neutrons to low temperatures on the IPHI – Neutron test
facility. The setup will be derived from existing setups used to produce liquid hydrogen cells for nuclear physics (MINOS and COCOTIER). The foreseen setup will be described : geometry optimization, cooling loop using a thermo-siphon, integration in the existing moderator.
14:25 Break
Science and Instrument developments 14:45 C. Langer, FH Aachen/Jülich
“Instruments for Astrophysics at CANS”
After a short introduction into the field of nuclear astrophysics, I will focus on needs and requirements for nuclear physics experiments with a strong astrophysical background. As neutron capture reactions play an outstanding role in astrophysical processes, modern instruments producing neutrons in the keV to MeV range are required. In this talk, the requirements will be outlined and discussed.
15:00 J. Voigt, JCNS
“Neutron spectrometers for HBS”
15:15 U. Rücker, JCNS
“Reflectometer for industry at the JULIC neutron platform”
We are going to build a complete target-moderator-reflector (TMR) unit at the JULIC cyclotron as a low-power prototype for the future HBS TMR stations. Despite the low power (20 W average power) we want to demonstrate that useful instrumentation is feasible already at this power level.
We received a request from the neutron guide production companies for additional characterization opportunities after the shutdown of the BER-II reactor. In this presentation, we will sketch our first design parameters for a reflectometer beamline suitable for the characterization of supermirror elements.
15:30 Wrap up and discussion on next steps and common future work
16:00 End of Day 2
