Reply To: NIMBY FUD

[asymmetric_implosion]

Spallation sources rely on very high energy protons (~1 GeV) to work. A PF alpha particle or proton source is unlikely to exceed 10 MeV with most of the particles of interest far below this value. The PF would serve as an intense ion source but you need the particle accelerator in front of it to accelerate to the desired speed.

If you want to go to an (alpha,n) reaction with something like Be it is possible but you have to deal with a target accepting a high instantaneous power, low average power situation which makes the target difficult to thermally manage where the beam impacts the target. I’ve damage steel with a plasma focus ion beam.