| | At the last SRF Workshop it was reported that the superconducting linac at the Spallation Neutron Source had been recently installed and the 10 Hz, 4.5 K testing of the superconducting cavities was being completed. Since then, great progress has been achieved in commissioning the first fully functional pulsed superconducting linac: in August 2005 beam was first accelerated through the linac, up to 950 MeV. During the ensuing two years a great deal of experience has been gathered on the strength and weaknesses of components and systems, while operating the linac at both 4.5 and 2.1 K; at repetition rates from 10 Hz to full design 60 Hz; at energies up to 1.012 GeV and recently at a beam power level of 185 kW. Details of the operating parameters, conditions and of the lessons learned will be given, together with the status of the facilities being readied and the SRF module improvements being executed. The SNS Power Upgrade Project is under planning: the initial phases of the Project will include the beam energy upgrade to 1.3 GeV, to be reached with the addition of nine high beta (.81) SRF modules at the end of the present linac. These plans will allow better usage of the beam for increased beam power and will provide operational flexibility as the power will be ramped up to values higher than the present design level of 1.4 MW. | |
