Conceptual Design of the Liquid Hydrogen Moderator Cooling Circuit for the European Spallation Source

Abstract The European Spallation Sourcein Lund, Sweden, will be a 5 MW beam power neutron spallation research center. As subsystem of the target station the moderators play a vital role by slowing down high energy neutrons set free during the spallation process. To provide maximum neutron flux intensities with high availability for scattering experiments a conceptual liquid hydrogen moderator cooling circulation design proposal was developed. Supercritical hydrogen at 17 K will be utilized to absorb energy of the incoming neutrons in two parallel moderator vessels. A helium refrigerator provides the necessary cooling capacity by implementing an additional helium expansion turbine downstream the refrigerator coldbox. Strategies for the mitigation of pressure fluctuations due to beam trips are being presented. Solutions in form of electrical heaters and an accumulator or an expansion vessel are discussed. Different supercritical hydrogen circulator implementation scenarios are being matched to indicate the most reliable setup. For an efficient moderation process parahydrogen concentrations higher than 99% have to be guaranteed at the moderator inlet. Due to potential conversion of parahydrogen to orthohydrogen via irradiation processes the implementation of an ortho-parahydrogen catalyst bed is being evaluated. Methods for a continuous measurement of the apparent parahydrogen concentration at the moderator in- and outlet will be introduced. The arrangement and interaction of the components will be detailed in the paper.