Ultracompact RF Accelerator for Non-Destructive Examination

To reduce the risk of radioactive incidents, long-term corrosion and creep of post-tension reinforcement tendons in containment buildings, corrosion of liners for the containment building, and corrosion of liners in spent fuel pools need to be monitored. Industrial radiography is the most accurate non-destructive testing method, however it requires radioactive isotopes like Ir-192 and Co-60. Meanwhile the US government is trying to minimize the use of radionuclides due to health, security, and safety concerns. A number of companies in the United States and elsewhere provide linacs and betatrons for X-ray radiography. However these units are not compact ~ 100kg and up) and still rather expensive compared to radioisotopes. Euclid Beamlabs LLC proposes a novel design of an electron accelerating structure that has a significantly reduced transverse size. The accelerator is a dielectric loaded waveguide with transverse size comparable to a pencil. Because of the size reduction the volume of the shielding around the structure is reduced by an order of magnitude. The imaging unit becomes virtually hand held ~30kg). In Phase I we will finalize the design and produce a low energy 0.5 MeV) prototype, and characterize it at low power frequency, microwave coupling and field balance). We will also experimentally establish practical limits for the electron beam transmission. A proposed accelerator based x-ray source will occupy a unique niche in the lineup of radionuclide free x-ray sources: it produces higher energy x-rays than diagnostic e.g. dental) x-rays, yet it is compact, unlike other high energy x-ray sources, which are at least truck mounted. Such a device will find its use in industrial radiography applications for hard to reach places or where mobility is highly desired.