Towards an understanding of erosion in ISIS TS-2 spallation neutron targets?

Abstract At the ISIS Spallation Neutron Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK, lifetimes of tantalum-clad tungsten targets on the Second Target Station (TS-2) have not been as long as expected. Analyses of gamma-ray spectra accumulated in the target services area suggest that erosion within the target is characterised by two exponentially increasing functions of time, one tentatively identified with initial erosion of the tantalum cladding, and the other identified with subsequent leaching of tungsten.