Spallation neutron source beam loss monitor system

The Spallation Neutron Source facility to be built at ORNL is designed to accumulate 2×1014 protons at 1.0 GeV and deliver them to the experimental target in one bunch at 60 Hz. To achieve this goal and protect the machine from excessive radiation activation, an uncontrolled loss criteria of 1 part in 104 (1 W/m) has been specified. Measured losses will be conditioned to provide machine tuning data, a beam abort trigger, and logging of loss history. The design of the distributed loss monitor system utilizing argon-filled glass ionization chambers and scintillator-photomultipliers will be presented.