Physical Analysis of LBE Spallation Target Coupled With the Reactor for CIADS

For the project of the Chinese Initiative Accelerator Driven Sub-critical system (CIADS), the Lead-Bismuth-Eutectic (LBE) spallation target is one of the two alternatives, which has high good thermal performance, mature technology, and other advantages. The physical design of the spallation target determines the neutron yield and the utilization of the neuron source, as well as the performance of the sub-critical reactor and other key issues. Based on the Monte Carlo program MCNPX, we did the preliminary design of spallation target coupled with the reactor with a k_eff about 0.95. The energy deposition density distribution of the target and the window were calculated. In the mean time, the neutron flux density, the neutron energy spectrum, and the power amplification factors were calculated. By changing the positions of the target, the radii of the beam pipe and the thickness of target, we studied the variation of the neutronic parameters mainly mentioned above. The energy deposition density distribution was used as the heat source of the thermal-hydraulics analyses. From the neutronic parameters, we found that to get the maximum power amplification factor, the target window should be put at the positions 11.4 cm above the center of the core. Actually, when the target was put above the center of the core, from 0cm to 22cm, the maximum differences of the power amplification factor is less than 4.0%, which means the position will have little influences in this range. When the target window was put at the center, increasing of the window’s thickness will lead the decreasing of the power amplification factor. The enlargement of the beam pipe radii will decrease the maximum that the amplification factors can reach. Meanwhile, the increasing of the beam radii will enlarge the power amplification factor slightly. The physics analysis of the LBE target coupled with the reactor can give more information to the optimization of the target structure and the sub-critical reactor for CIADS.