Development of a transport system for the copper source of the Texas Intense Positron Source facility

The transport system design and construction for The Texas Intense Positron Source (TIPS) facility has been completed. This facility is located on beam port I of The University of Texas at Austin TRIGA Mark II 1.1 MW research reactor. The TIPS will provide a high intensity, variable energy positron beam for use in material studies. The natural copper source is transported into beam port I of the reactor where it is irradiated at close proximity to the reactor core. The transport system is an L-shaped aluminum channel that utilizes pulleys to drive a source cart. The copper source is transported on the cart into and out of the beam port for irradiation. After removal from the beam port, the activated copper positron source will be placed into a vacuum chamber where the positrons are moderated with annealed tungsten foil and electrostatically extracted. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.