The MYRRHA ( Multi-purpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications ) project aims at constructing an accelerator driven system (ADS) demonstrator (50 à 100 MWth) to explore the feasibility of nuclear waste transmutation. Such a subcritical reactor requires an extremely reliable accelerator which delivers a CW high power protons beam (600 MeV, 4 mA). The reference solution for this machine is a superconducting linear accelerator. This thesis presents the work - undertaken at IPN Orsay in October 2008 - on the study of a prototypical superconducting module and the feedback control systems of its cavity for the high energy part of the MYRRHA linac. First, the optimization and the design of 5-cell elliptical cavities (β=0,65), operating at 704.4 MHz, are presented. Then, the experimental work focuses on a reliability oriented study of the “cryomodule” which hold a prototypical 5-cell cavity (β=0,47). In this study, the dynamic behavior of the fast tuning system of the cavity was measured and qualified. The “field flatness” issue in “low beta” multi-cell cavity was also brought to light. Finally, a fault-tolerance analysis of the linac was carried out. Toward this goal, a model of the cavity, its RF feedback loop system and its tuning system feedback loop was developed. This study enabled to determine the RF power needs, the tuning system requirements and as well as to demonstrate the feasibility of fast fault-recovery scenarios to minimize the number of beam interruptions in the MYRRHA linac.
