Particle physics contribution to the elimination of nuclear waste

After a short introduction on fundamental research and innovation to explain how CERN, a laboratory which is a priori entirely dedicated to fundamental research, came to contribute to a major challenge of society: the energy problem, I will describe the motivation behind the original experimental effort carried out at CERN (FEAT and TARC experiments) and discuss some of the main elements of the energy problem. Progress in particle accelerator technology makes it possible nowadays to use a proton accelerator to produce energy and eliminate nuclear waste efficiently. The Energy Amplifier proposed by Carlo Rubbia and his group is a subcritical fast neutron system driven by a proton accelerator. It is particularly attractive as it could destroy, through fission, transuranic elements produced by present nuclear reactors. The Energy Amplifier could also efficiently transform long-lived fission fragments at minimal cost using the concept of Adiabatic Resonance Crossing (ARC) recently tested at CERN with the TARC experiment. The ARC concept can be extended to several other domains of application (production of radioactive isotopes for medicine and industry, neutron research applications, etc.). (Author)