MEGAPIE, a 1 MW pilot experiment for a liquid metal spallation target

Megawatt pilot target experiment (MEGAPIE) is an initiative launched by Com inisariat l'Energie Atomique, Cadarache (France) and Forschungszentrum Karl sruhe (Germany) together with Paul Scherrer Institut (Switzerland), to demo nstrate, in an international collaboration, the feasibility of a liquid lea d bismuth target for spallation facilities at a beam power level of 1 MW. S uch a target is under consideration for various concepts of accelerator dri ven systems (ADS) to be used in transmutation of nuclear waste and other ap plications world wide. It also has the potential of increasing significantl y the thermal neutron flux available at the spallation neutron source SINQ for neutron scattering. SINQ's beam power being close to 1 MW already, this facility offers a unique opportunity to realize such an experiment with a reasonably small number of new ancillary systems. The paper describes the b asic features of the experiment and its boundary conditions, the technical concept of the target and underlying research carried out at participating laboratories. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.