Progress and plans for the U.S. HEP conductor development program

Although existing accelerators utilize NbTi superconductor, it is likely that any future upgrades or new accelerators will require the use of superconductors with higher critical fields, such as Nb/sub 3/Sn. The High Energy Physics (HEP) program in U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) has initiated a conductor development program aimed at developing a high current density, cost-effective conductor for these new applications. The program is industry-based, with a set of target specifications that were derived from the accelerator magnet requirements. Significant progress has been made to date toward the target specifications, and the results will be presented. Plans for further development, in particular the scale-up tasks required to reduce the conductor cost, will be reviewed.