Fundamental investigations of safety-relevant material loads to the target system of the European Spallation Neutron Source (ESS). Comparison experiment and theory

Next generation spallation neutron sources will have proton beam power between 2 MW and 5 MW in 1 μs pulses of up to 100 kJ/pulse. Liquid mercury has been chosen as first priority material for the planned and under construction spallation targets in Europe, Japan, and the United States. The development of such nuclear systems requires an exact data basis for the calculations to predict reliably the changes of the structure material by high-energy particle radiation. The determination of the lifetime, in particular the damage of beam window depends on distribution of the power deposition in the target and the embrittlement caused by the production of helium and hydrogen. The aim of this work is to validate Monte-Carlo models by comparison of experimental and calculated results in order to obtain reliable predictions of parameters influencing the lifetime of the target. (orig.)