Implications of new induction core materials and coatings for high power induction accelerators

Two recent developments enable induction accelerators to achieve better and more consistent performance with higher efficiency. First, better and more consistent performance is achieved with insulating coatings that allow magnetic cores to be annealed after winding. Second, losses are reduced by a factor of 2-3 with nanocrystalline alloys, while the flux swing is only slightly reduced to 2.0 T compared with 2.3 T with economical amorphous alloys. One metric for selecting between the alloys is the cost-of-electricity, COE. A systems code optimizes an accelerator and compares the COE for higher flux-swing amorphous and higher-efficiency nanocrystalline materials and for several variations in assumptions