Estimates of radiation damage induced by a proton beam in the window of an accelerator driven system

One of the critical points of accelerator driven systems is the interface between the accelerator and the target, an interface which in some designs is to be a thin tungsten or steel window. The proton beam going through this window will induce nuclear reactions and elastic scattering inducing the displacement of many atoms as well as their transmutation. The contribution of spallation and elastic scattering to the number of displacements per atom has been calculated in the approximation of a thin target. The cross sections and the recoil energies of the spallation products inducing damage have been calculated with an intra-nuclear cascade + evaporation code. The results of this code have been compared to experimental data and systematics. The elastic scattering cross sections have been evaluated with an optical potential reproducing the experimental data up to 1 GeV. (author)