New missions for Z pinches

Summary form only given. We are considering non-electric missions for high power Z pinches with DT fuel. The missions are: transmutation of spent nuclear reactor fuel, production of medical isotopes, hydrogen production, and materials testing. Near term (5-20 yr) missions that are well suited to Z-pinch driven DT fusion neutrons are: the production of Mo/sup 99/, the most widely used medical isotope, intense neutron flux materials tester, and to validate the use of GW level Z pinches to transmutate spent nuclear reactor fuel. These missions would use a gain /spl sim/0.2-1 DT Z pinch that emits a few MJ of neutrons in a burst mode. Mo/sup 99/ will be produced by bombarding Mo/sup 100/ with 14 MeV neutrons since the (n,2n) cross section is large (/spl sim/barn) at 14 MeV. The long term (20-30 yr.) missions that are well suited to rep-rated Z pinches at the GW level are transmutation of spent nuclear fuel, economic production of hydrogen, and a high neutron flux for materials testing. The transmutation of the transuranics is much more efficient in a fusion system because the ratio of the fission cross section to the absorption cross section is much larger for 14 MeV neutrons than the /spl sim/1 MeV neutrons in a fast reactor.