Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe - European Science ...

4.6 Nuclear Physics Tools and Applications
develop more powerful and reliable models describing
nuclear reactions, nuclear decays or the transport of
particles in matter.
Those research programmes benefited from most of
the existing European infrastructures for basic Nuclear
Physics research while in some cases specific infrastructures
were built such as the nTOF experiment at
CERN. These projects also received a decisive support
of some national funding agencies but in particular of
the European Commission (FP5 HINDAS, n_TOF, FP6
NUDATRA, MEGAPIE, EFNUDAT).
Methods and tools developed by Nuclear
Physics
Nuclear Physics have also transferred new methods
and tools developed in the frame of basic research to
nuclear technology research programmes. Some examples
are:
• High-power accelerator technologies to be used in
ADS, d-t sources for neutron physics research or
advanced radiation detection systems.
• New measurement methods based on advanced digital
electronics or performant trigger systems.
• Modern data analysis techniques using multi-variable
techniques.
To study neutron induced reaction on targets difficult
to produce or to handle because of their radioactivity,
nuclear physicists use the so-called surrogate
method. This method consists of producing the same
compound nucleus (A+1)* via another reaction, for
instance a transfer reaction, and measuring the decay
of the compound nucleus (A+1)* in coincidence with
the ejectile b. The neutron-induced cross section for
the corresponding decay channel is then deduced
from the product of the decay probability measured
in the surrogate reaction and the compound nucleus
cross section for the neutron-induced reaction. The
latter cross section is obtained from optical model
calculations.
Education, training and know-how
preservation
Most probably, one of the major contributions of Nuclear
Physics to nuclear energy generation is the human capital
trained in basic Nuclear Physics techniques that is
transferred to nuclear industry or to governmental bodies
linked to the different aspects of nuclear energy generation.
Nuclear Physics guarantees an important fraction
of the know-how required to develop advanced nuclear
energy options.
Future perspectives
The next decade will be crucial for the future of nuclear
energy generation systems, therefore, the contribution of
Nuclear Physics should be maintained if not increased.
More accurate data on thermal neutron-induced reactions,
in particular for major actinides, will help increasing
the fuel burn-up and the life time of present reactors.
The investigation of fast neutron-induced capture and
fission reactions on actinides and minor actinides should
be completed for designing next-generation fast fission
reactors. The characterization of high-energy reactions,
such as spallation processes, involved in acceleratordriven
systems should also be accomplished. New data
on the thorium-fuel cycle are also required to develop
innovative options based on fission. The most important
cross sections to be measured or re-evaluated have been
listed by several expert committees (OECD-NEA). The
European Commission has also guaranteed the support
to these activities through the FP7 project ANDES.
Fusion will also require inputs from Nuclear Physics
for ITER, HiPER and IFMIF. In both cases, activation
data, material modification through nuclear reactions,
neutron multiplication, in particular for tritium breeding
ratio calculations, in (n,xn) reactions or hydrogen, tritium
and helium production in neutron-induced reactions
are of major importance. Emphasis should be put on
measurements of threshold reactions and of angular
distribution and energy spectra of emitted particles.
However, while in ITER the necessary data concern reactions
induced by neutrons up to 14 MeV, in the case of
IFIMIF the upper limit is 50 MeV and data on deuteron
and proton-induced reactions are also needed.
These activities will strongly depend on the available
infrastructures for performing the above mentioned
measurements. In particular the second phase of the
nTOF experiment at CERN is expected to strongly contribute
with the possibility of using radioactive samples
as targets. Moreover, many projects will certainly benefit
from next-generation Nuclear Physics facilities being
built in Europe during the next years such as FAIR or
SPIRAL2. NUSTAR experiments at FAIR will contrib-
178 | Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe – NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010