Utilisation and Reliability of High Power Proton Accelerators
Workshop Proceedings, Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 16-19 May 2004
Accelerator-driven systems (ADS) are being considered for their potential use in the transmutation of radioactive waste. The performance of such hybrid nuclear systems depends to a large extent on the specification and reliability of high power accelerators, as well as the integration of the accelerator with spallation targets and sub-critical systems. At present, much R&D work is still required in order to demonstrate the desired capability of the system as a whole.
Accelerator scientists and reactor physicists from around the world gathered at an NEA workshop to discuss issues of common interest and to present the most recent achievements in their research. Discussions focused on accelerator reliability; target, window and coolant technology; sub-critical system design and ADS simulations; safety and control of ADS; and ADS experiments and test facilities. These proceedings contain the technical papers presented at the workshop as well as summaries of the working group discussions held. They will be of particular interest to scientists working on ADS development as well as on radioactive waste management issues in general.
The PDS-XADS Reference Accelerator
Agence pour l'Energie Nucléaire
Accelerator-driven systems place very stringent availability requirements on the proton beam led into the subcritical reactor core. This paper describes the technical options chosen by a European collaboration supported by the European Commission in the framework of a Preliminary Design Study of an eXperimental ADS (PDS-XADS). These options are considered a sound basis for the development of an ADS-compatible accelerator. It mainly consists of a superconducting linac fed by an ECR ion source and a four-vane RFQ. The modularity of such an accelerator is a strong advantage, and high availability may be obtained by the proper combination of maximum reliability and of a powerful fault tolerance scheme. The methods to obtain fault tolerance are described, and the upcoming R&D programme is presented. The importance of an adapted construction methods is stressed.