Conclusions and perspectives after the achievement of the muse-4 programme at the Masurca facility

Full text of publication follows. Since 1995, the MUSE experiment series in the MASURCA mock-up constitutes one of the most important programmes, in the field of experimental neutronics, in support to ADS concept studies. The fourth phase of these experiments, conducted within the framework of a wide international collaboration, ended in 2004 and provided a significant contribution to the demonstration of the technical feasibility of such systems. This paper reviews the main characteristics of the core configurations that were studied, gives an overview of the results obtained and summarises the lessons drawn from these experiments. The main activities carried out in support of the measurement analysis are also described. Based on this experience feedback, recommendations for the preparation and optimisation of future experiments are proposed. (authors)