The commercialization of inertial confinement fusion is discussed in terms of power costs. A chapter on heavy ion accelerators covers the prinicpal components, beam loss mechanisms, and theoretical considerations. Other tyopics discussed include the following: (1) heavy ion fusion implementation plan, (2) driver with accumulator rings fed by an rf LINAC, (3) single pass driver with an induction LINAC, and (4) implementation scenarios.

An assessment of heavy-ion fusion has been completed. Energetic heavy ions, for example 10-GeV uranium, provided by an rf linac or an induction linac, are used as alternatives to laser light to drive inertial confinement fusion pellets. The assessment has covered accelerator technology, transport of heavy-ion beams, target interaction physics, civilian power issues, and military applications. It is concluded that particle accelerators promise to be efficient pellet drivers, but that there are formidable technical problems to be solved. It is recommended that a moderate level research program on heavy-ion fusion be pursued and that LASL should continue to work on critical issues in accelerator development, beam transport, reactor systems studies, and target physics over the next few years.

There is a continuing study in the USA of the feasibility of an induction linac fusion driver, which would accelerate multiple heavy-ion beams through a sequence of pulsed transformers and amplify the beam current during acceleration. The driver cost could be $200/Joule or less and the cost of electricity in the range of .050-.055$/kWhr. As a next stage of development to assess the feasibility of this approach we propose an ''Induction Linac Systems Experiment''. This will test some of the technology and multiple-beam manipulations necessary for a fusion driver. 7 refs., 1 fig.

Heavy ion accelerators are the most recent entrants in the effort to identify a practical driver for inertial confinement fusion. They are of interest because of the expected efficient coupling of ion kinetic energy to the thermal energy needed to implode the pellet and because of the good electrical efficiency of high intensity particle accelerators. The beam intensities required, while formidable, lie within the range that can be studied by extensions of the theories and the technology of modern high energy accelerators.

During the past few years the possibility of using intense ion beams to ignite a pellet of fusion fuel has looked increasingly promising. Ion beams ranging in mass from protons up to uranium have been investigated and several machines have been built at different laboratories to investigate the required technology. Light ion drivers are based on the use of high current, high voltage diodes arranged around a central target. These devices have the necessary power and energy to initiate fusion burn but suffer from the inability to transport stably the necessary huge beam currents over long distances to a small target. Heavy ion drivers are based either on the radio-frequency linac or the induction linac. Because heavy ions have a much shorter range than light ions of the same energy, one is able to raise the beam voltage by a factor of one-thousand and lower the current correspondingly. The expected parameters for a fusion driver will be delineated and the present state of development of the technology for the candidate ion beam drivers will be described in light of these desiderata.