Monte Carlo simulation of proton- and neutron-induced radiation damage in a tantalum target irradiated by 70 MeV protons

Beams of free neutrons are an important probe to analyze the structure and dynamics of condensed matter and are produced at neutron research reactors, neutron spallation sources or compact accelerator-based neutron sources (CANS). An efficient construction of CANS with a maximized neutron yield and brilliance requires reliable knowledge of the consequences of radiation-induced material damage, the predominating bottleneck of a target’s lifetime. In the framework of the Julich High-Brilliance neutron Source project, the impact of proton- and neutron-induced material damage of a tantalum target was investigated. The Monte Carlo codes FLUKA and SRIM were utilized to extract the number of displacements per atom resulting from atomic rearrangements. The simulations performed distinctly identify the rear of the neutron target as the most vulnerable area, with the protons as main damage contributors. The minor contribution of neutrons is a material-specific phenomenon due to their high mean free path length in tantalum. Numerical results of the simulations served to calculate average and peak damage rates $${R}_{\mathrm{d}}$$ (dpa/s), both in turn scaled to annual displacement doses for continuous operation in a full power year (dpa/fpy). Supplemented by the literature, a minimum target lifetime $$\tau _{\min }$$ of 2.6 years (33 Ah) is concluded.