Celebrating a 30-year long exciting adventure … and looking forward at the future.
The 14-MeV Frascati Neutron Generator (FNG), completely designed and realized by ENEA, was inaugurated on the 2nd of November 1992. In the last 30 years, FNG has been one of the few medium-high intensity neutron generators in the world available for fusion research, and it is still the reference facility for fusion in Europe.
The development of suitable materials is one of the main challenges of fusion research. During the 1980s, as the efforts in fusion technology increased, ENEA decided to devise a 14-MeV neutron generator to perform experiments for the validation of fusion neutron cross sections of materials of interest for fusion. The design and construction of FNG were completed in a few years.
In time, since 1992 numerous integral experiments have been carried out at FNG on all fusion relevant materials and on mock-ups of components, which provided accurate experimental validation of neutron cross sections and of ITER and DEMO nuclear design calculations, a fundamental contribution to fusion progress.
A variety of new experiments are now planned for the coming years for further studies on fusion nuclear aspects still to be investigated. FNG is also extensively used to measure the damage and the functional response to neutron irradiation of electronic components to be used in aeronautics, space and industrial applications. In addition, nuclear detectors are also tested, characterized and calibrated, to be used in all field of science.
In occasion of FNG 30th anniversary, in recognition of the extensive work carried out at FNG in time, we are organizing a workshop to look ahead and discuss the future role of FNG in fusion and, more in general, in science and industry.
FNG generates up to 10^11 14-MeV n/s through the fusion reaction D + T = n + a, accelerating a deuteron beam on a tritiated target. The facility includes a 300 kV, 10 mA power supply, an ion source, a deflecting magnet, a linear accelerator and a quadrupole triplet to focus the beam onto the target. When a deuterated target is used instead, FNG provides 2.5 MeV neutrons through D + D fusion reaction, with intensity up to 10^9 n/s.
