Faculty of Science and Technology

To move away from fossil fuels we are going to need nuclear power, but this still faces problems, not least with public acceptance. The Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactor provides a power source which is manifestly safe. Furthermore it enables one to use Thorium as a fuel, which avoids any problems with long lived waste and is proliferation resistant.

The accelerator component is perhaps the most difficult: it requires low cost, moderate energy, high current and extremely high reliability. Cyclotrons cannot achieve the energy, synchrotrons cannot achieve the current, and linacs are expensive. The FFAG accelerator design could provide the solution, especially in the form of the nsFFAG which is now being prototyped at Daresbury.

Associated Links

• Manchester Particle Physics Group - part of the School of Physics and Astronomy in The University of Manchester