Status of the Us Heavy Ion Fusion Program*

It is a pleasure to be able to come to Abingdon to help in this study of applications of the Spallatron Neutron Source (SNS) to problems of Heavy Ion Fusion (HIF). I feel that I am in a small way repaying those from Rutherford who have contributed so much to our US HIF workshops. In order to review the US HIF program, it is necessary to discuss both the program elements and the political situation. I will start with the latter topic and then present the technical justification for the interest in HIF because it is assumed that not everyone in this audience has heard this story. This will be followed by a brief description of the Argonne Program to develop the rf linac storage ring system for which the SNS can contribute important data. Finally, I will describe the new direction being taken by the Berkeley group to develop the induction linac system.