Design, Operations, and Safety Report for the MERIT Target System

Abstract

The Mercury Intense Target Project (MERIT) is a proof-of-principal experiment to determine the feasibility of using a free-jet of Hg as a spallation target in a Neutrino Factory or a Muon Collider facility. The 1-cm-diameter, 20-m/sec jet will be generated inside a 15-Tesla magnetic field, and high-speed optical diagnostics will be used to photograph the interaction between the Hg jet and a 24-GeV proton beam.The experiment is scheduled to be conducted at CERN in 2007. ORNL is responsible for the design, fabrication, and testing of a system to deliver the Hg jet within the confines of the 15-cm magnet bore. This report documents the functional and safety requirements of the Hg system along with descriptions of its interfaces to the other experimental equipment.