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Proceedings ArticleDOI

Design of 250-MW CW RF system for APT

12 May 1997-Vol. 3, pp 2889-2893
TL;DR: In this article, the design for the RF systems for the APT (Accelerator Production of Tritium) proton linac is presented, which produces a continuous beam power of 130 MW at 1300 MeV with the installed capability to produce up to a 170 MW beam at 1700 MeV.
Abstract: The design for the RF systems for the APT (Accelerator Production of Tritium) proton linac is presented. The linac produces a continuous beam power of 130 MW at 1300 MeV with the installed capability to produce up to a 170 MW beam at 1700 MeV. The linac is comprised of a 350 MHz RFQ to 7 MeV followed in sequence by a 700 MHz coupled-cavity drift tube linac, coupled-cavity linac, and superconducting (SC) linac to 1700 MeV. At the 1700 MeV, 100 mA level the linac requires 213 MW of continuous-wave (CW) RF power. This power will be supplied by klystrons with a nominal output power of 1.0 MW. 237 klystrons are required with all but three of these klystrons operating at 700 MHz. The klystron count includes redundancy provisions that are described which allow the RF systems to meet an operational availability in excess of 95 percent. The approach to achieve this redundancy is presented for both the normal conducting (NC) and SC accelerators. Because of the large amount of CW RF power required for the APT linac, efficiency is very important to minimize operating cost. Operation and the RF system design, including in-progress advanced technology developments which improve efficiency, are discussed. RF system performance is also predicted. Because of the simultaneous pressures to increase RF system reliability, reduce tunnel envelope, and minimize RF system cost, the design of the RF vacuum windows has become an important issue. The power from a klystron will be divided into four equal parts to minimize the stress on the RF vacuum windows. Even with this reduction, the RF power level at the window is at the upper boundary of the power levels employed at other CW accelerator facilities. The design of a 350 MHz, coaxial vacuum window is presented as well as test results and high power conditioning profiles. The transmission of 950 kW, CW, power through this window has been demonstrated with only minimal high power conditioning.

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Citations
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01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: In this article, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is planning an Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) plant, which employs a high power linear accelerator to produce neutrons by spallation reactions of protons in tungsten and lead contained in a target/blanket assembly.
Abstract: In one of two options being considered for a new source of tritium, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is planning an Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) plant [1] that would be built at its Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The facility will employ a high power linear accelerator to produce neutrons by spallation reactions of protons in tungsten and lead contained in a target/blanket (T/B) assembly. The fast neutrons produced in the target are moderated in the light water that cools the blanket elements, and then captured by He gas to produce tritium. The tritium is separated from the He by permeation through a palladium membrane, with cryogenic distillation used for isotopic purification. The APT design is based on a 1700-MeV proton linac operated at 100 mA CW. However, changing tritium requirements may reduce the energy to 1030 MeV, so the plant has been designed in a modular

39 citations


Cites background from "Design of 250-MW CW RF system for A..."

  • ...ure through four coaxial ceramic windows that are tested to 1-MW power levels [8]....

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Proceedings ArticleDOI
12 May 1997
TL;DR: The baseline accelerator design for the APT (Accelerator Production of Tritium) Project is a normalconducting-superconducting proton linac that produces a CW beam power of 170 MW at 1700 MeV as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The baseline accelerator design for the APT (Accelerator Production of Tritium) Project is a normalconducting-superconducting proton linac that produces a CW beam power of 170 MW at 1700 MeV. Compared with the previous all-NC linac design, the NC/SC linac provides significant power savings and lower operating and capital costs. It allows a much larger aperture at high energies, and permits greater operational flexibility. The design has been approved by high-level technical panels and is published in a Conceptual Design Report. The high-energy portion is a superconducting (SC) RF linac employing elliptical-type niobium cavities, while the low-energy portion is a normal-conducting (NC) linac constructed from copper cavities. This provides an integrated accelerator design that makes optimum use of the two technologies in their appropriate regions of application. The NC linac, which consists of an injector, RFQ, CCDTL, and CCL, accelerates a 100-mA beam to 217 MeV. The SC linac is built in two sections optimized for different beam velocity spans, with each section made up of cryomodules containing 5-cell cavities and SC singlet quads in a FODO focusing lattice. Alternate SC linac designs are being studied that employ a doublet focusing lattice using conventional quadrupoles located between cryomodules.

34 citations


Cites methods from "Design of 250-MW CW RF system for A..."

  • ...These include a description of the rf power system [ 10 ], the HEBT and expander system [11], and the accelerator commissioning plan [12]....

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Proceedings ArticleDOI
12 May 1997
TL;DR: In this paper, a linear accelerator system (APT) is proposed for tritium production using high-energy proton reactions with tungsten and lead, where neutrons will be moderated, and captured to make trits.
Abstract: Tritium is essential for U.S. nuclear weapons to function, but because it is radioactive with a half-life of 12.3 years, the supply must be periodically replenished. Since the last production reactor stopped operating in 1988, tritium has been recovered from dismantled nuclear weapons. This process is possible only as long as many weapons are being retired and will not work indefinitely, thus requiring the United States to bring a new tritium production capability on line. To make the required amount of tritium using an accelerator system (APT), neutrons will be generated by high-energy proton reactions with tungsten and lead. Those neutrons will be moderated, and captured to make tritium. The APT plant design is based on a 1700 MeV linear accelerator operated at 100 mA CW. In preparation for engineering design, scheduled to start in October 1997, and subsequent construction, a program of engineering development and demonstration is underway. That work includes assembly of a 20 MeV, 100 mA low-energy linac plant prototype, high-energy linac accelerating structure prototyping, radio-frequency system improvements, neutronic efficiency measurements, and materials qualifications.

28 citations


Cites methods from "Design of 250-MW CW RF system for A..."

  • ...The selection of basic accelerator parameters, such as current, energy, and accelerating gradient, was dekrmined by the required plant production capacity, using a costperformance model [ 4 ]....

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01 May 1997
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an updated report on this past year's progress that includes beam tests of the 75 keV injector, fabrication of the 6.7 MeV radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ), preparation of the facility, procurement and assembly of the RF system, and detailed design and documentation of many pieces of support equipment.
Abstract: As part of the linac design for the accelerator production of tritium (APT) project, we are assembling the first approximately 20 MeV portion of this cw proton accelerator. Primary objective of this low-energy demonstration accelerator (LEDA) is to verify the design codes, gain fabrication knowledge, understand LEDA's beam operation, and be able to better predict costs and operational availability for the full 1700 MeV APT accelerator. This paper provides an updated report on this past year's progress that includes beam tests of the 75 keV injector, fabrication of the 6.7 MeV radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ), preparation of the facility, procurement and assembly of the RF system, and detailed design and documentation of many pieces of support equipment. First tests with the 6.7 MeV, 100 mA, cw beam from the RFQ are scheduled for late 1998. References are given to many detailed papers on LEDA at this conference.

10 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
12 May 1997
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an updated report on this past year's progress that includes beam tests of the 75 keV injector, fabrication of the 6.7 MeV radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ), preparation of the facility, procurement and assembly of the RF system, and detailed design and documentation of many pieces of support equipment.
Abstract: As part of the linac design for the accelerator production of tritium (APT) project, we are assembling the first approximately 20 MeV portion of this cw proton accelerator. Primary objective of this low-energy demonstration accelerator (LEDA) is to verify the design codes, gain fabrication knowledge, understand LEDA's beam operation, and be able to better predict costs and operational availability for the full 1700 MeV APT accelerator. This paper provides an updated report on this past year's progress that includes beam tests of the 75 keV injector, fabrication of the 6.7 MeV radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ), preparation of the facility, procurement and assembly of the RF system, and detailed design and documentation of many pieces of support equipment. First tests with the 6.7 MeV, 100 mA, cw beam from the RFQ are scheduled for late 1998. References are given to many detailed papers on LEDA at this conference.

9 citations


Cites methods from "Design of 250-MW CW RF system for A..."

  • ...LEDA will require a number of approximately 1-MW cw rf power systems [15] to power the RFQ and CCDTL cavities....

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References
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Proceedings ArticleDOI
12 May 1997
TL;DR: Details of the high voltage power supply and transmitter systems as well as detailed descriptions of the waveguide layout between the klystrons and the accelerating cavities are presented.
Abstract: Successful operation of the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) plant will require that accelerator downtime be kept to an absolute minimum. Over 230 separate 1 MW RF systems are expected to be used in the APT plant, making the efficiency and reliability of these systems two of the most critical factors in plant operation. The Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator (LEDA) being constructed at Los Alamos National Laboratory will serve as the prototype for APT. The design of the RF systems used in LEDA has been driven by the need for high efficiency and extremely high system reliability. We present details of the high voltage power supply and transmitter systems as well as detailed descriptions of the waveguide layout between the klystrons and the accelerating cavities. The first stage of LEDA operations will use four 1.2 MW klystrons to test the RFQ and supply power to one test stand. The RFQ will serve as a power combiner for multiple RF systems. We present some of the unique challenges expected in the use of this concept.

6 citations


"Design of 250-MW CW RF system for A..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Efficiency improvements can be realized in two ways: (1) by increasing saturated generator efficiency, and (2) by changing the saturation to eliminate the efficiency penalty...

    [...]

Proceedings ArticleDOI
12 May 1997
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the performance of RF windows for the Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator (LEDA) project of the Accelerator Production of Tritium program.
Abstract: Radio frequency (RF) windows are historically a point where failure occurs in input power couplers for accelerators. To obtain a reliable, high-power, 350 MHz RF window for the Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator (LEDA) project of the Accelerator Production of Tritium program, RF window prototypes from different vendors were tested. Experiments were performed to evaluate the RF windows by the vendors to select a window for the LEDA project. The Communications and Power Industries, Inc. (CPI) windows were conditioned to 445 kW in roughly 15 hours. At 445 kW a window failed, and the cause of the failure will be presented. The EEV windows were conditioned to 944 kW in 26 hours and then tested at 944 kW for 4 hours with no indication of problems.

4 citations


"Design of 250-MW CW RF system for A..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Efficiency improvements can be realized in two ways: (1) by increasing saturated generator efficiency, and (2) by changing the saturation to eliminate the efficiency penalty...

    [...]