Potential Portuguese Contributions to the ESS Project

Areas and topics of interest for the ITN

Pedro Vaz (ITN)

Workshop “Towards a Portuguese Participation in the ESS project”, ITN, 29th January 2010

ITNOrganization

Introductory remarks

• ESS project:– Involves international cooperation and multi-national teams– Addresses multi-disciplinary scientific, technological and

engineering issues & topics

• Several teams at ITN hold past and present experience of participation in international consortia in– EU-funded projects (5th, 6th, 7th Framework Programmes)– CERN experiments– Others…

• “Phased” Portuguese participation/partnership

Design Constructio

nOperations

ITNEquipments, infrastructures & expertise

• Research Reactor at ITN Expertise in:– Nuclear Engineering– Neutron Instrumentation– Neutron detection techniques– Neutron spectrometers

• Low-energy neutron scattering Expertise in the area of instrument development, including– Design– Construction– Test of systems and components

• Construction, installation and test systems and components were performed, namely several collimators to equip reactor beam tubes:– At the Portuguese Research Reactor and– At the Greek Demokritus reactor

Low Energy Neutron Scattering

• Design Optimization analytical studies as well as computer simulation work have been carried out to improve the performance of:

i) neutron scattering instruments:– Time-of-flight Difractometer– Two-Axis Difractometer– Stress measurement dedicated Difractometer – SANS (Small Angle Neutron Scattering) instrument fed by a

steady source– SANS instrument fed by pulsed neutron beam

ii) main components of the above instruments:– Optical effects on neutron guide tubes– Efficiency of a thin water as neutron scatterer in a tangential

beam tube– Intensity and resolution effects in converging multichannel

collimation

Experience of participation in international consortia, projects and utilization of facilities

• On-going participation of ITN teams in CERN-related activities– ISOLDE– n-TOF

• Participation in EURATOM Framework Programmes– Nuclear Technology– Radiological Protection and Safety

• Users of European neutron scattering facilities– Access in the framework of the EU Human Mobility Programme (free

beam time to outside users)

• On-going cooperation with foreign labs & research centers– CEA– SCK/CEN– Several thers…

Areas/topics of potential contribution to the ESS project

Design(accelerator,

target, spectrometers

)

Construction

(detectors, instrumentation, electronics)

Operations(experiments, measurements

, spectrometers

)

AcceleratorShielding Design & reliability studies

• Radiation Protection and Shielding– Computational issues associated to

• Dosimetry• Shielding assessment and design• Activation

• Accelerator reliability

Past and current experience in ADS-related design studies in the 5th through 7th

EU Framework Programmes

Spallation Target Design

• Multi-MegaWatt targetry !

• Neutronics

• Dose assessment

• Shielding Design

• Radiological Safety Assessment

• Radiotoxicity assessment (target)

• Radiation damage (structural components)

Past and current experience in ADS- and EURISOL-design studies

Experiments and Measurements

• Detector design, prototyping, tests and development

• Electronics and Instrumentation

• Design and construction of instruments for neutron scattering– experiments using neutron techniques with emphasis in

SANS, diffraction and quasielastic scattering.

• Neutron cross-section measurements

Conclusion

• Participation of ITN in the ESS wealth of opportunities for strengthening competences and expertise in several scientific and technology areas

• Important issues – Funding– Utilization (“beam time” allocation)– Access– Type of participation: creation of a consortium of Portuguese

research groups and institutions ?

• “Nuclear Education and Training – A cause for concern” (in Portugal)– Facilities such as ESS can play a key role in the training of

Master or Ph.D. students