RIKEN Accelerator-driven compact Neutron Source, RANS (RIKEN Accelerator-driven compact Neutron Source) for non-destructive test of infrastructures

A compact neutron source by using a particle accelerator is a promising tool for actual material analysis, infrastructural diagnostics, nuclear detection, and medical treatment. We have been operating the neutron source RANS (RIKEN Accelerator-driven compact Neutron Source) with 7 MeV proton LINAC with a beryllium long-life target for 6 years. In recent years, imaging with fast and thermal neutrons, engineering diffraction for texture evolution estimation and austenite volume fraction estimation for iron and steel, Prompt-Gamma neutron Analysis (PGA) are the major activities. The research and development results with RANS fast neutron back scattered imaging methods for large scale concrete structures revels that the requirement for the neutron yield is less than 10¹¹ neutrons s^-1 especially for out-door type compact neutron source. RANS2 has been designed and developed with 2.49 MeV proton linac. RANS proves that compact neutron source is useful for neutron scattering analysis on-site with reasonable measurement time, and resolution. (author)