Motivation and Development of a Compact Superconducting Accelerator for X-ray Medical Device Sterilization

Fermilab is developing a compact superconducting CSRF accelerator as a source of a high-power, high-energy electron beam to produce an x-ray beam comparable to $\ge$ 2 MCi of cobalt-60. As part of this development, we are presently assembling a 20 kW, 1.6 MeV prototype that incorporates the four enabling technologies described below. These technologies support a heat budget that is within the capacity of commercially available cryocoolers and eliminate the need for liquid cryogens. The use of superconducting technologies promises efficiencies, wall-plug to beam, of 80% or greater. A summary of the design and progress to date will be given. In addition, we will present a review of developments within the medical device sterilization industry that are motivating the development of this technology.