Study of a 5Â MeV electron linac based neutron source

A compact neutron source, based on a 5 MeV electron linac, has been designed for Neutron Radiography/Boron-Neutron-Capture-Therapy (BNCT) applications. Although a higher electron energy is generally needed to produce an intense neutron beam, in this paper the use of Be and BeD2 photoneutron targets will be proposed, leading to thermal neutron beams of 8.48 × 107 n/cm2/s/mA and 1.23 × 108 n/cm2/s/mA, respectively. Optimization of the parameters involved in neutron production (e-γ conversion, moderator and reflector performances) has been studied by means of the MCNP-4C2 code.