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MERIT is a proof‐of‐principle experiment of a target station suitable as source for future muon colliders or neutrino factories. When installed at the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) PS (Proton Synchrotron) complex fast‐extracted high‐intensity proton beams intercepted a free mercury jet inside a normal‐conducting, pulsed 15‐T capture solenoid magnet cooled with liquid nitrogen. Up to 25 MJ of Joule heat was dissipated in the magnet during a pulse. The fully automated, remotely controlled cryogenic system of novel design permitted the transfer of nitrogen by the sole means of differential pressures inside the vessels. This fast cycling system permitted several hundred tests in less than three weeks during the 2007 data taking campaign.

High power targets are one of the major issues in an accelerator complex for future HEP physic studies. The paper will review status of studies worldwide. It will focus on the status of the MERIT mercury-jet target experiment at CERN.