Measurement of spallation residuals in mercury for accelerator facility targets

Abstract

A benchmark experiment was designed and conducted that irradiated two small volume mercury targets at the Weapon Neutron Research facility at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center with 800 MeV protons. Following irradiation the production cross sections of 53 medium and longer-lived spallation residuals using gamma spectroscopy at various decay times up to a year were determined. The measured cross sections were then compared with predicted cross sections from the MCNPX code. After acquisition of the gamma spectroscopy data the targets were drained and disassembled to study the distribution and the deposition of the spallation residuals.