Advanced high brightness ion rf accelerator applications in the nuclear energy

The capability of modern rf linear accelerators to provide intense high quality beams of protons, deuterons, or heavier ions is opening new possibilities for transmuting existing nuclear wastes, for generating electricity from readily available fuels with minimal residual wastes, for building intense neutron sources for materials research, for inertial confinement fusion using heavy ions, and for other new applications. These are briefly described, couched in a perspective of the advances in the understanding of the high brightness beams that has enabled these new programs. 32 refs., 2 figs