Development of the EURISOL Multi-Megawatt Target Station (2005-2009): Executive Summary

Advances in nano-technology, bio-technology, nuclear medicine and the fundamental sciences require a facility to continue improving current capabilities in Europe beyond the year 2010. European competitiveness could benefit greatly from a unique research facility, flexible enough to satisfy users from many different fields of science and technology. The facility would be a valuable asset enabling economies of scale and giving Europe access to cutting-edge technology at the heart of future technological advances of major economic importance. Specialised facilities already operating at full capacity such as SINQ in Switzerland, ILL in France, have demonstrated the benefits of bringing together users from different scientific backgrounds and different countries. Such a research policy may be reinforced by the improved performance and greater reach of the EURISOL project which is aimed at a larger research community. Beneficiaries include the medical sciences such as oncology, medical imagery or studies of protein, as well as physics, astrophysics and cosmology, not forgetting nano-technology, supra-conductivity and general material technology.An initial Design Study funded by the European FP6 research framework program was able to establish the case for the project on a well-founded scientific and technical basis in terms of user cost-benefit analysis, risk identification and mitigation. Two major risk items were identified early on in the EURISOL program: the proton beam LINAC driver and the Multi-Megawatt target station. The current summary addresses the latter task which was assigned to a project group headed by CERN in Geneva and comprising PSI in Switzerland for the liquid metal converter target development, INFN in Italy for the fission targets and IPUL in Latvia for essential liquid metal technology testing.