A Neutron Diode for Subcritical Multistage Multipliers with Special Reference in Tritium Breeding

Abstract

Aquesta és una còpia de la versió author's final draft d'un article publicat a la revista Journal of fusion energy.La publicació final està disponible a Springer a través de http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10894-015-0049-7 This is a copy of the author 's final draft version of an article published in the Journal of fusion energy. In this paper the interaction between a magnetic field and the neutron spin magnetic moment is explored for use in the design of a neutron diode or valve that allows a neutron flux to pass in one direction, while preventing a neutron flux in the opposite direction. A neutron diode that ensures the unidirectional movement of neutrons could be used in the design of a subcritical multistage neutron multiplier, a device that has thus far not been realised. With a subcritical multistage neutron multiplier, an initial source of neutrons could be multiplied substantially in a very small area. Such a device could have potential applications in tritium breeding in a fusion reactor, in medicine, in space exploration, etc. Utilizing a simplified geometrical model, a first preliminary study is performed to assess the feasibility of this concept. Keywords. Subcritical multistage neutron multiplier, spin-magnetic field interaction.

Arbitrarily large neutron amplification in subcritical nuclear reactors

“…Let us finally mention a more recent idea, which is to exploit magnetic fields to deflect neutrons via the coupling to their spin [4]. As it is far more speculative than the previous ones, I will not consider this option further here.…”