Linear accelerator for plutonium conversion and transmutation of NPP wastes

The conclusion of an agreement between Russia and the USA for significantly reducing the number of nuclear warheads has made the effective peaceful use of the stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium, a very urgent problem. Another relevant problem for all advanced countries is the transmutation of long-lived high level NPP wastes. One of the most promising ecologically pure and safe methods of plutonium conversion is to use it in subcritical accelerator-driven power reactors simultaneously for two aims - energy production and waste burning. Preliminary estimates show that in any scenario the energy is in the range 0.8-1.6 GeV and the beam current is 100-300 mA. Estimates in projects of transmutation plants show values in the same ranges, although from common considerations in the last case the current must be closer to the upper limit. The very high average beam power (hundreds of megawatts) involved requires construction of an accelerator with high efficiency (near 50%). This fact and the necessity of having extremely low beam losses make it possible to suppose that both tasks may be solved by the use of a CW linac.<>