Spallation-based science and technology and associated nuclear data requirements

Rapid advances in accelerator technology in recent years promise average proton beam currents as high as 250 mA with energies greater than one GeV. Such an accelerator could produce very high intensities of neutrons and other nuclear particles thus opening up new areas of science and technology. An example is the efficient burning of transuranic and fission product waste. With such a spallation-burner it appears that high-level waste might be converted to low-level waste on a time scale comparable to the human lifespan at a reasonable additional cost for electric power generation. The emphasis of this paper is on the design of a high power proton target for neutron production, on the nuclear data needed to operate this target safely and effectively, and on data requirements for transmutation. It is suggested that a pilot facility consisting of a 1.6 GeV accelerator and target operating at 25 ma is the next major step in developing this technology. Bursts of protons near the terawatt level might also be generated using such an accelerator with a proton accumulator ring. Research prospects based on such proton bursts are briefly described. The status of established nuclear data needs and of accelerator-based sources for nuclear data measurements is reviewed. 6 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.