AVS 50th International Symposium
    Vacuum Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session VT-WeM

Paper VT-WeM8
The TRASCO-ADS Project Windowless Interface: Theoretical and Experimental Evaluation

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 10:40 am, Room 323

Session: Dynamic Vacuum Systems
Presenter: P. Michelato, INFN - Lab. LASA, Italy
Authors: P. Michelato, INFN - Lab. LASA, Italy
D. Barni, INFN - Lab. LASA, Italy
D. Sertore, INFN - Lab. LASA, Italy
A. Colaiuda, ENEA Centro Ricerche di Bologna, Italy
P. Turroni, ENEA Centro Ricerche di Bologna, Italy
G. Bertacci, ENEA Brasimone, Italy
A. Bonucci, SAES Getters, Italy
R. Giannantonio, SAES Getters, Italy
M. Urbano, SAES Getters, Italy
L. Cinotti, ANSALDO, Italy
Correspondent: Click to Email
TRASCO-ADS, the Italian acronym for Transmutation TRASmutazione) of nuclear Waste (SCOrie), is a national funded program in which INFN, ENEA and Italian industries work on the design of an accelerator-driven sub critical system (ADS) for nuclear waste transmutation. One of the most critical aspects of an ADS is the interface between the UHV environment of the accelerator and the pressurized system of the spallation target (400°C Pb-Bi eutectic or pure Pb at about 1 bar), due to thermomechanical issues and to radioprotection and safety constraints. Two interface concept designs have been evaluated. In a first case, a thin window physically separates the high pressure and the low pressure sides of the interface. In a second case (windowless), the linac and the spallation target are separated only by means of a suitable pumping system. This paper reports a description of the whole machine based on the windowless solution, an evaluation of the gas and vapour loads evolved from the hot interface region and the preliminary results drawn from numerical models developed to describe the flow of said vapours and gases inside the complex geometry of the interface. We here discuss about the experimental validation of the above models, carried out through suitably developed experimental devices. A first order design of the vacuum system is also proposed.