Pulsed Neutron Source Using 100-mev Electron Linac at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory

The Pohang Accelerator Laboratory operates an electron linac for a pulsed neutron source as one of the long-term nuclear R&D programs at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The designed beam parameters are as follows; The nominal beam energy is 100 MeV, the maximum beam power is 10 kW, and the beam current is varied from 300 mA to 5A depends on the pulse repetition rate. The linac has two operating modes: one for the short pulse mode with the repetition rates of 2 100 ns and the other for the long pulse mode with the 1 μs repetition rate. We tested an electron linac based on the existing equipment such as a SLAC-5045 klystron, two constant gradient accelerating sections, and a thermionic RF-gun. We investige the characteristics of the linac, and we report the status of the pulsed neutron source facility including a target system and the time-offlight paths.