DESIGN STUDY FOR A REDUCED ENERGY AND SIZE, PULSED DEUTERON ACCELERATOR FOR USE IN A PFNA EXPLOSIVES DETECTION SYSTEM.

A PROTOTYPE FOR AN EXPLOSIVE DETECTION SYSTEM USING PULSED FAST NEUTRON ACTIVATION (PFNA) TECHNIQUES USES AN ELECTROSTATIC TANDEM ACCELERATOR TO PRODUCE NANOSECOND WIDTH PULSES OF 6 MEV DEUTERONS. WHILE THIS APPROACH ALLOWS ONE TO PRODUCE NEUTRONS OF AN ENERGY SUITED TO THE REACTION ONE HOPES TO EXCITE IN SAMPLE ATOMS OF INTEREST, IT REQUIRES THE USE OF A FAIRLY LARGE AND EXPENSIVE ACCELERATOR SYSTEM. THIS STUDY WILL DETERMINE THE PARAMETERS OF AN ACCELERATOR WHICH WILL PRODUCE NANOSECOND WIDTH PULSES OF 14 MEV NEUTRONS USING 200-400 KEV PULSED DEUTERONS ON A TARGET OF TRITIATED TITANIUM. SUCH A SYSTEM WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER FROM ION SOURCE TO TARGET THAN THE SYSTEM BASED ON A TANDEM ACCELERATOR, AND LESS EXPENSIVE. THE PHASE 1 PROJECT HAS THESE OBJECTIVES: 1) DETERMINE THE NEUTRON FLUX AND TIME STRUCTURE NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE USEFUL DETECTION SENSITIVITY AND RESOLUTION. SCIENCE APPLICAITONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. WILL PARTICIPATE IN THIS PART OF THE STUDY. 2) DETERMINE THE PROPERTIES OF THE TRITIUM TARGET AND DEUTERIUM BEAM NEEDED TO PRODUCE THE REQUIRED NEUTRON FLUX. 3) DETERMINE THE ION SOURCE, EXTRACTION SYSTEM, PULSING SYSTEM, AND BEAM TRANSPORT WHICH ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING THE DESIRED DEUTERIUM CURRENTS AND TIME STRUCTURE ON TARGET.