The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) has been given high priority by the high energy physics community. Various aspects of the project - physics motivation, accelerator design, siting considerations - are discussed here. The project is moving rapidly and parts of this discussion have been updated to reflect the vast amount of work that has gone into the SSC since the conference.

The current excavation technology of raise boring and blind shaft drilling operations is reviewed. Examples are presented of recent applications of both downhole boring machines and surface-mounted rotary shaft drilling equipment, with comparisons made of operational characteristics, shaft sizes, and accuracy limits of each system. Raise-boring and box-drilling machines are described and current operating practices of these systems are reviewed. The increased interest in slant hole or inclined shaft construction is noted, and techniques and equipment for these special shafts are presented. Practical accuracy limits are discussed for each shaft drilling technique and trade-offs between accuracy, drilling rates, and shaft utilization factors are noted. Finally, the current status of ongoing research and development efforts will be described, and some predictions made regarding worthwhile improvement trends in shaft construction methods.

A novel approach to providing high voltage (>10 MV), high current (>200 kA), short duration (20-40 ns), particle beam pulses is described. The approach uses 1 MV Metglas isolated cavities driven by water pulse lines. These are stacked in series by using a magnetically insulated cathode stalk. Results from modeling of the cavity and cores and from a full sized single-cavity experiment are discussed. Plans for a four-cavity experiment to prove the principle of voltage addition by stacking cavities on a magnetically insulated transmission line are also described. The single-cavity experiments produced a 1.1 MV, 30 ns FWHM, 12 ns rise time, 250 kA electron beam. The HELIA pulsed power system and cavities are described. Particle-in-cell (PIC) computer simulations of the four-cavity experiment and the four-cavity conceptual design are discussed. 13 references, 14 figures.

Some possible directions for the future evolution of the mirror approach to fusion are outlined, in the context of economically-motivated criteria. Speculations are given as to the potential advantages, economic and otherwise, of the use of axially-symmetric systems, operated in semi-collisional regimes of lower Q (fusion power balance ratio) than that projected for present-day tandem mirror designs. These regims include barely tandem modes, and ion-heated modes, in association with higher efficiency direct conversion. Another possible economically advantageous approach mentioned is the use of a tandem mirror plasma to stabilize a FRM (field-reversed mirror) plasma, with potential synergistic advantages.

A 4.5-m-radius rotating fusion reactor made of silicon carbide and containing a moving 1-m-thick lithium-ceramic granular blanket can produce 3000 MW/sub t/. The blanket operates at high temperature (>1200 K) leading to gross plant efficiencies of up to 60% using a combined helium-gas turbine (Brayton cycle) with a vapor bottoming cycle.

Hydrodynamic models have been derived by Mark and Yu and by others to describe energetic pinched-beams, such as those used in ion-beam fusion. The closure of the Mark-Yu model is obtained with adiabatic assumptions mathematically analogous to those of Chew, Goldberger, and Low for MHD. The other models treated here use an ideal gas closure and a closure by Newcomb based on an expansion in V/sub th//V/sub z/. Features of these hydrodynamic beam models are compared with a kinetic treatment.

After successful field testing of a prototype pressurized lubrication system designed to prevent brine intrusion and loss of lubricating oil from the motor and protector sections of electric submersible pumps, a second-generation lubrication system has been designed, fabricated, and laboratory tested. Based on a sensitive downhole pressure regulator, this system is not depth limited and it accurately controls the differential pressure between the motor oil and the external brine. The first production lengths of metal sheathed power cable have been fabricated by Halpen Engineering and delivered to REDA for testing and evaluation. Laboratory tests performed on prototype metal sheathed cable samples have demonstrated the durability of this power cable design. The East Mesa Pump Test Facility is currently being activated for high-horsepower pumping system tests that are scheduled to commence during the first quarter of FY 85. A 300-horsepower REDA pumping system equipped with a pressure regulator controlled lubrication system and a metal sheathed power cable is being fabricated for testing in this unique facility.

The philosophy of these tests is to measure the motion of a low current, small diameter electron beam in the accelerator before running high current. By using low current, we can study particle motion in the applied fields without any extra complications associated with the self-forces of high currents. With the steering magnets off, we have measured the transverse drift of the probe beam. Also, we have used the probe beam to optimize the current in the steering magnets to compensate for the drift. There have been concurrent efforts to locate the source of the error field which is presumed to cause the drift. So far, the source has not been established but the search is continuing.