Beam dynamics studies for fast beam trip recovery of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency accelerator-driven subcritical system

High reliability and availability are primary goals for the operation of particle accelerators, especially for accelerator-driven subcritical systems (ADS). ADSs employ high-power beams for the transmutation of minor actinide; as a result, the amount and the radiotoxicity of the nuclear waste are considerably reduced. To this end, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency is designing a 30-MW continuous wave (cw) super-conducting proton linear accelerator (linac) that supplies neutrons to an 800-MW subcritical reactor by a spallation process. The major challenge for an ADS linac is the strict control of the beam trip duration and its frequency to avoid thermal stress in the subcritical reactor structures. The maximum allowed beam trips for failures longer than a few seconds are estimated to be far below the rate achieved in current accelerators. Thus, we implemented a combination of hot standby and local compensation that enables a fast beam recovery. This work comprehensively investigated the tolerance of our linac lattice for the local compensations for failures in superconducting cavities and magnets. This scheme includes simultaneous compensation of multiple cavities in independent and same cryomodules that significantly enhance the reliability of the linac. The retuned schemes present acceptable beam performance to guarantee the integrity of the linac and the beam transport to the target; moreover, they satisfy the beam stability in the beam window. In addition, the readjusted elements are subjected to moderate stress to ensure a sustainable operation. This manuscript reports the beam dynamics results toward fulfilling the high reliability demanded by an ADS linac.