University programs of the U.S. Department of Energy advanced accelerator applications program

The Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) Program was initiated in fiscal year 2001 (FY-01) by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in partnership with other national laboratories. The primary goal of this program is to investigate the feasibility of transmutation of nuclear waste. An Accelerator-Driven Test Facility (ADTF), which may be built during the first decade of the 21st Century, is a major component of this effort. The ADTF would include a large, state-of-the-art charged-particle accelerator, proton-neutron target systems, and accelerator-driven R&D systems. This new facility and its underlying science and technology will require a large cadre of educated scientists and trained technicians. In addition, other applications of nuclear science and engineering (e.g., proliferation monitoring and defense, nuclear medicine, safety regulation, industrial processes, and many others) require increased academic and national infrastructure and student populations. Thus, the AAA Program Office has begun a multi-year program to involve university faculty and students in various phases of the Project to support the infrastructure requirements of nuclear energy, science and technology fields as well as the special needs of the DOE transmutation program. In this paper we describe university programs that have supported, are supporting, and will support the R&D necessary for the AAA Project. Previous work included research for the Accelerator Transmutation of Waste (ATW) project, current (FY-01) programs include graduate fellowships and research for the AAA Project, and it is expected that future programs will expand and add to the existing programs