An accelerator facility for intermediate energy proton irradiation and testing of nuclear materials

The irradiation of materials with 10 - 30 MeV protons promises to advance the science of radiation damage for fission and fusion power plants. Intermediate energy proton beams can now be dedicated to materials irradiation within university-scale laboratories. This paper describes the first such facility, with an Ionetix ION-12SC cyclotron producing 12 MeV proton beams. Bulk damage rates approach 0.3 DPA per day uniformly in samples without beam implantation. Samples are mm-scale tensile specimens with thicknesses up to 250 um, mounted to a cooled beam target with control over temperature. A specialized tensile tester tests radioactive specimens at high temperature and/or vacuum to represent the conditions in fission and fusion systems, while a digital image correlation system remotely measures strain. Overall, the facility provides university-scale irradiation and testing capability with intermediate energy protons, demonstrating that this technique is a scalable and effective approach for nuclear materials research, down-selection, and qualification.