Feasibility Study and Installation of Thermal Neutron Driven 14 MeV Neutron Converter into the TRIGA Research Reactor

Tentative design and implementation of an irradiation facility are described, which will add a 14 MeV component to the neutron spectrum in a thermal research reactor irradiation facility. The idea is to exploit the Li(n,T)He reaction in a blanket of lithium in a deuterated environment, placed in a thermal reactor irradiation channel. Existing literature describing similar devices is reviewed, theoretical basis is presented and plans for the design and implementation are described. Potential uses of such a device are activation studies of new materials developed for fusion reactors like ITER and DEMO, evaluated nuclear reaction data validation at energies above 10 MeV, fast neutron activation analysis, etc.