Project-X Accelerator and Proposed Accelerator Requirements for the Transmutation Demonstration

1. Project-X Accelerator and Proposed Accelerator Requirements for the Transmutation Demonstration Shekhar Mishra2 Project-X (Yousry Gohar1, David Johnson2, Todd Johnson2) 1 Argonne National Laboratory 2 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

2. Project-X: Nuclear Energy Application • The recent advancements in the Superconducting Radio Frequency accelerator technology make the application of High Intensity Proton Accelerator for the Nuclear Energy feasible. • Fermilab Project-X will provide an unprecedented experimental and demonstration facility in the United States.

3. What is Established ? • These studies have addressed • The current status of the accelerator and target technology • The technical requirements for Accelerator Driven System (ADS) • The R&D needed in both accelerator and target technology • These recent studies have established that • There have been fundamental developments in the accelerator technology that could make the ADS possible. • The accelerator technology is ready to support a demonstration project. • Reliability of the accelerator

4. Issue: Transmutation of Spent fuel • An accelerator-driven subcritical system is ideally suited to burn the most problematic isotopes in spent fuel. • Spent fuel would roughly take 300,000 years to reach the radiotoxicity of natural uranium • Spent fuel processing (removal of PU and U) followed by transmutation of “Minor Actinides”using a Accelerator Based System can reduce the time to about 500 years.

5. Mission Need: Transmutation • The issue of high radiotoxicity and lifetime of spent nuclear fuel is a challenge facing the nation today. • Either fast reactors or subcritical accelerator-driven systems can be used for the transmutation of the spent nuclear fuel from the US light water reactors. • The near-term problem is that the US industry is unlikely to build enough fast reactors for the utilization of the spent fuel. • Hence it is crucial to develop alternate technologies using accelerators. • It is proposed that • spent nuclear fuel processing followed by accelerator based transmutation could significantly reduce the lifetime and amount of nuclear waste the United States has to put in geological disposal. • At the same time this process could also be used to produce clean electricity (nuclear energy).

6. Mission Need: Material R&D • The nuclear reactor design (fission or fusion reactors) requires better understanding and development of the materials and structure • Capable of functioning reliably for a long time in environments with high temperatures, reactive chemicals, high stresses and high radiation. • The steady-state operations of fission and fusion reactors can be well simulated by the radiation conditions from a CW proton linac.

7. Need: Beam Energy and Power Neutron yield as a function of proton energy for one set of target and moderator condition Beam Energy 1-2 GeV Beam power needed to drive a 0.8 GW ADS sub-critical core as a function of ksrc, the effective neutron multiplication factor. Beam Power  1 MW

8. Accelerator Requirement

9. Status: Beam Trip Rate • Present operating accelerators were not designed for low trip rates. • Ten to Hundred fold improvements are needed in beam trip rate.

10. Project-X: Nuclear Application • We propose this as a demonstration experimental transmutation program with the proposed Fermilab SRF proton accelerator Project-X. • Beam Energy 1-2 GeV • Beam Power 1 MWatt • The program would include demonstrations of • Reliable accelerator technology development and demonstration, • Design, development and operation of spallation target • Material R&D for nuclear Energy application • Demonstration of the transmutation of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power reactors. • Joint facility with Nuclear Physics Research

11. Project-X: Reference Design 3 GeV CW linac; 3 MW beam power Flexible provision for beam requirements supporting multiple users 3-8 GeV acceleration via a (1.3 GHz) superconducting pulsed linac Existing Recycler/Main Injector support the neutrino program Reference Design Report released on October 31

12. CW Linac Technologies 650 MHz Elliptical 0.16-2 GeV b=0.11 b=0.22 b=0.4 b=0.61 b=0.9 b=1.0 325 MHz SSR 2.5-160 MeV 1.3 GHz Elliptical 2-3 GeV

13. Project X: Goals Construct a 3 GeV continuous-wave superconducting H- linac, capable of delivering 1 mA of average beam current. Supports rare processes and nuclear physics programs Can support nuclear energy applications with beam energies <2 GeV Construct a 3-8 GeV pulsed linac, utilizing an ILC-style RF system, with total beam power delivered to 8 GeV of 300 kW. Required for the neutrino program Establishes a path toward a muon based facility Upgrade the Recycler and Main Injector to provide ≥ 2 MW to a neutrino production target at 60-120 GeV. Supports the long baseline neutrino program Simultaneous operations of the rare processes and neutrino programs Expand physics opportunities http://www.fnal.gov/directorate/Longrange/Steering_Public/workshop-physics-5th.html

14. Schematic Layout: NE/NP Area

15. Mission: Address Key Technology Issues Technology Demonstration Facility

16. Mission: Technology Demonstration Green: Ready, Yellow: May be ready, Red: More R&D

17. Summary • Fermilab has proposed the construction of a High Power Continuous Wave proton SRF linac (Project-X) for its high energy physics program. • Fermilab is exploring the possibility to expand the application of Project-X linac for other applications • Nuclear Physics • Nuclear Energy • Recent studies suggests that Project-X linac can be used as a technology demonstration project for nuclear energy application with a focus on demonstrating • Accelerator technology • Target technology • Material development