Considerations for very-high-power accelerators

Abstract

A Heavy Ion Fusion powerplant driver, if built today, would become the highest average-power accelerator ever built, probably by at least an order of magnitude. However, if some of the projects being planned now are constructed, there will be several plants of comparable or greater average power. We will look at ways in which large science projects are supported and at what steps must be taken for a project to obtain international support. We will also note how large science construction projects are being organized as costs and visibility increase. The physics aspects of large, high-power accelerators will be noted with the particular vantage of the advisory committee for the 170 MW proton linac being designed by the Los Alamos team for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT). Although a cw proton linac is very different from a driver with its pulsed beams of heavy ions, designers of both facilities need to be extraordinarily careful to protect against beam loss. Also, both facilities are required to have very high availability. Utilities have made reliability and availability extremely important requirements, while the APT requires high reliability to achieve its production goals.