How to Build a Superbeam

A discussion of design issues for future conventional neutrino beam-lines with proton beam power above a megawatt. There are several conventional neutrino beam-lines currently in operation that are designed to handle proton beam power of a fraction of a mega-watt. By conventional neutrino beam-line is meant one where accelerated protons strike a target to produce charged pions, which are magnetically focused and allowed to decay to neutrinos. Several laboratories are considering accelerator upgrades over the next decade that could provide proton beam power above a mega-watt for neutrino beam-lines (see Table 1); conventional neutrino beams at such high power have been labeled Superbeams. Based on current experience, the most significant technical issues for this next generation of high-power neutrino beam-lines are radiation protection, target survivability, and reliability/reparability. A few examples are given of extrapolating from NuMI to LBNE (the proposed beam-line from FNAL to DUSEL in South Dakota using protons from the Project X accelerator upgrade)