An overview of the Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator (LEDA) project RF systems

Successful operation of the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) plant will require that accelerator downtime be kept to an absolute minimum. Over 230 separate 1 MW RF systems are expected to be used in the APT plant, making the efficiency and reliability of these systems two of the most critical factors in plant operation. The Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator (LEDA) being constructed at Los Alamos National Laboratory will serve as the prototype for APT. The design of the RF systems used in LEDA has been driven by the need for high efficiency and extremely high system reliability. We present details of the high voltage power supply and transmitter systems as well as detailed descriptions of the waveguide layout between the klystrons and the accelerating cavities. The first stage of LEDA operations will use four 1.2 MW klystrons to test the RFQ and supply power to one test stand. The RFQ will serve as a power combiner for multiple RF systems. We present some of the unique challenges expected in the use of this concept.