Design and Techniques for Fusion Blanket Neutronics Experiments Using an Accelerator-Based Deuterium-Tritium Neutron Source

The experiments performed in the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute/U.S. Department of Energy collaborative program on fusion blanket neutronics are designed with consideration of geometrical and material configurations. The general guide that is used to design the engineering-oriented neutronics experiment, which uses an accelerator-based 14-MeV neutron source, is discussed and compared with neutronics characteristics of the reactor models. Preparation of the experimental assembly, blanket materials, and the neutron source is described. A variety of techniques for measuring the nuclear parameters such as the tritium production rate are developed or introduced through the collaboration as a basis of the neutronics experiments. The features of these techniques are discussed with the experimental error and compared with each other.