HIGH POWER PROTON LINACS, APPLICATIONS AND DESIGN CONCEPTS

Proton linacs with very high beam power constitute the first part in the production chain for different applications. Proton beams of several tens of MW can be used to yield an extremely high flux of neutrons and other secondary particles. Hence, possible applications range from accelerator driven transmutation of nuclear waste and spallation neutron sources to irradiation installations for material testing, radioactive ion beam facilities, neutrino factories and muon colliders. The architecture and beam dynamics of the driver linac are discussed, and the key elements of the accelerator system reviewed. Constraints on the linac performance (H + /H - ,c w/pulsed, beam intensities, reliability/availability) associated with the different applications are described. The results of the CONCERT (COmbined Neutron Center for European Research and Technology) study, under the leadership of Saclay, using the concept of a single high-power proton linac to serve a multi-application facility are presented.