Properties of W–Ta Materials of the Neutron-Producing Target of the Subcritical Assembly at the National Scientific Centre ‘Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology’ of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

The works in the field of radiation materials science of target materials of neutron sources based on the subcritical assemblies controlled by linear accelerators of electrons or protons, so-called accelerator driven systems (ADS), are reviewed. Now, electronuclear ADS systems are the prototype of safe nuclear reactors of the 5th generation. In connection with the physical start-up of the neutron source facility of the National Scientific Centre ‘Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology’ of the N.A.S. of Ukraine (NSC ‘KhIPT’ NASU), the target of which is fabricated from powdered tungsten covered with tantalum, the issues of preparation technology, construction, and physical and mechanical properties of W–Ta materials of targets in non-irradiated and irradiated states are considered. The nuclear-physical processes of radiation damage to the target during co-irradiation of it with both neutrons of a subcritical assembly and high-energy e- and γ-beams are analyzed. The target resources of ADS systems are estimated. As noted, the difficulty of predicting the ‘survivability’ of the W–Ta target also relates to the fact that, except for the works carried out at the NSC ‘KhIPT’ NASU in 70–90th of the last century, there are no experimental works in the world on the radiation damage of reactor materials by high-energy electrons with an energy of 100 MeV and above.