Accelerator Breeder Applications

Since the earliest proposals for the accelerator-based breeding of fissile material over thirty years ago, impressive developments in accelerator physics and technology have greatly enhanced the prospects for the technical feasibility of the accelerator breeder. Continuing investigations of the economic outlook for the accelerator breeder reaffirm that it will have an economic role to play in the thermal fission power field when the cost of uranium in constant dollars rises above the current level by a factor of about three. In spite of the low present cost of uranium, the probability of a cost rise of that magnitude is high if potential alternative sources of electrical energy such as the fast breeder reactor, fusion, and photovoltaics prove to be too costly for large-scale adoption. It would appear timely to begin a modest development program directed towards the practical demonstration of key components of the accelerator breeder. The starting point clearly has to be the injector and initial acceleration of the total beam current that is forseen. To this end, a design study for a 300-mA, 10-MeV proton accelerator has been initiated at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories.

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