Neutronic Calculations for the EURISOL-DS Fission Target

Neutronic calculations for the EURISOL-DS fission target have been performed using the FLUKA code. The design is based on the reference (the so-called Intermediate Solution) mercury neutron converter, surrounded by eight uranium carbide fission targets. The power deposited in the fission target, and the number of fissions produced in-target, are calculated and compared with previous calculations based on preliminary fission target designs. Due to the bigger distance from the center of the target in the present design, and to the lower impact of the reflector, the performance of the fission target is lower than found in previous calculations. The number of fissions per box is 9.6×1013 fissions/box/4MW. A power deposition of 4.3 W/cm3/ 4 MW was found, which is also lower than previous results. The power deposition results have been used as inputs for thermo-mechanical calculations.