Water purity development for the coupled cavity linac (CCL) and drift tube linac (DTL) structures of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) linac

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is a facility being designed for scientific and industrial research and development. SNS will generate and use neutrons as a diagnostic tool for medical purposes, material science, etc. The neutrons will be produced by bombarding a heavy metal target with a high-energy beam of protons, generated and accelerated with a linear particle accelerator, or linac. The low energy end of the linac consists of two room temperature copper structures, the drift tube linac (DTL), and the coupled cavity linac (CCL). Both of these accelerating structures use large amounts of electrical energy to accelerate the proton beam. Approximately 60-80% of the electrical energy is dissipated in the copper structure and must be removed. This is done using specifically designed water cooling passages within the linac's copper structure. Cooling water is supplied to these cooling passages by specially designed resonance control and water cooling systems. One of the primary components in the DTL and CCL water cooling systems, is a water purification system that is responsible for minimizing erosion, corrosion, scaling, biological growth, and hardware activation. The water purification system consists of filters, ion exchange resins, carbon beds, an oxygen scavenger, an UV source, and diagnostic instrumentation. This paper reviews related issues associated with water purification and describes the mechanical design of the SNS Linac water purification system.