Estimation of photoneutron yield from beryllium target irradiated by variable energy microtron-based bremsstrahlung radiation

The possibility of setting up microtron-based photoneutron source by utilizing bremsstrahlung radiation interaction with beryllium targets is critically examined. The bremsstrahlung yield for tantalum (Ta) target is obtained by EGS4 simulation. The neutron yield is estimated theoretically by MCNP simulation. The yield was measured experimentally by neutron irradiation of calibrated SSNTD CR-39 films. The total neutron yield is found to be of the order 1010 n/s for 250 Hz PRR and 109 n/s for 50 Hz PRR. A detailed comparison shows good agreement between theoretical and experimentally measured yields.