Pre-conceptual design and preliminary neutronic analysis of the proposed National Spallation Neutron Source (NSNS)

The Department of Energy (DOE) has initiated a pre-conceptual design study for the National Spallation Neutron Source (NSNS) and given preliminary approval for the proposed facility to be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The pre-conceptual design of the NSNS initially consists of an accelerator system capable of delivering a 1 to 2 GeV proton beam with 1 MW of beam power in an approximate 0.5 {micro}s pulse at a 60 Hz frequency onto a single target station. The NSNS will be upgradable to a significantly higher power level with two target stations (a 60 Hz station and a 10 Hz station). There are many possible layouts and designs for the NSNS target stations. This paper gives a brief overview of the proposed NSNS with respect to the target station, as well as the general philosophy adopted for the neutronic design of the NSNS target stations. A reference design is presented, and some preliminary neutronic results for the NSNS are briefly discussed.