From Konrad Gelbkeís e-mail message to the NSF: "Last weekend the NSCL staff accelerated an ⁴⁰Ar beam to 140 MeV per nucleon with the coupled cyclotrons and separated and delivered a secondary beam of ³³Al to an experimental station for a first shakedown experiment with the new germanium and NaI arrays. With this, the last major milestone of the coupled cyclotron project has been completed ahead of schedule and on budget." Thomas Glasmacher, whose group ran the experiment, reported that the cyclotrons ran "extremely smoothly" and the A1900 was "very stable."

Studies of the A1900 optics resumed this week and will continue into next week.

A high-intensity beam interlock (requested by the Operations group) has been built to disable the beam out of the K500 cyclotron whenever the K1200 cyclotron "deviates from normal operation." The interlock checks the amplitude and phase of the K1200ís rf with respect to given limits and stops the K500 beam when the limits are passed. It stops the K500 beam by shifting the phase in one of its dees, not by turning off the rf, so there is no time lag in turning the beam back on. Three different groups (RF, EPICS, and Modicon programming) worked together to design and build this device in only one week after it was requested!

News from the Computer Department

A power supply for the www.nscl.msu.edu system failed on Tuesday. One of the other Unix systems was brought up as a hot spare and substituted as the NSCL web server for about a day until a new power supply could be obtained and installed. Procedures for performing this function have been documented in case the web server fails in the future.

The network cabling for the N2 vault is making good progress. It is expected to be finished by the end of today.

The Computer Department is building a MOSIX cluster of analysis computers. The idea is that the user will log on to the cluster instead of a specific computer, and the cluster will distribute use among all the analysis computers. At present there are four linux computers in the group, with two additional on order.

ECR source news

The ECR group is working on the development of Ca beams, since ⁴⁸Ca has been requested by the first experiments in July. ⁴⁸Ca is bought as a separated isotope, and it is desirable to use it as efficiently as possible. In the past, the Lab has bought Ca as an oxide and converted it to metal in the source; one question is whether it would be better to buy it as a metal.

Superconducting RF

The Legnaro cavity ran successfully up to 5MV/m, at which point testing paused for the construction of walls to shield against x-rays. The walls are being built now, and testing will continue as soon as they are finished.

News from the Electronics Department

The production prototype for the new 20V/20A beamline-magnet power supplies has been successfully tested, and the power supplies have gone into production. Two manufacturers are building controller boards and heat sink boards, and the parts are expected to begin arriving at the Lab in mid July. The power supplies will be assembled, tested, and calibrated here. Now design work is starting for new 10V/100A beamline-magnet power supplies to supplement those that are already in use. Their basic design will be very similar to that of the new 20/20ís, using the same controller boards and multiple heat-sink boards in parallel.

Safety Note: Hazard Assessments

A hazard assessment is a determination and evaluation of the objects and conditions that lead to risk; the assessment is then communicated to others. State and federal safety regulators sometimes require formal hazard assessments. Two examples are given below.

A radiation survey is an example of a hazard assessment. It is a document containing information, usually measurements, on radiation exposure conditions and levels, and other potential hazards. It is used to estimate potential radiation dose to others. Items such as engineering controls, mitigation, special procedures, and protective equipment that may be used to reduce risk should be included.

Entry in areas classified as Confined Spaces also require hazard assessments made prior to entry. The constituents of the confined space atmosphere are surveyed. That is, they are measured and documented. Upon evaluation, a determination is made of the risk of entering and working there. The risk may be too high for entry. Alternatively, engineering controls, mitigation, dosimetry, special procedures, and protective equipment may be used to reduce risk. Those who might possibly work there need to be informed of the levels, controls, procedures, etc.

2000 Annual Report

LaTex users on unix please see Thomas Baumannís example at http://www.nscl.msu.edu/~baumann/nsclannual.html. MiKTeX users can download the example file, plus the necessary style and instruction files from: \\Shelob2\NSCL_Dist_SW\MikTex. In addition to the nsclannual_example.tex, MiKTeX users will need nsclannual.cls and caption2.sty.

Important Update and Reminder

The ORCBS has issued updated information on MSUís Biohazardous Waste Management Plan. The NSCL is affected by this plan in that some of us use syringes for precise application of chemicals such as epoxy. Discarded syringes (with or without needles) and scalpels are regulated as medical/biohazardous waste, no matter what they were used for. When discarded, these items must be placed in an approved, properly labeled container. The container must be disposed of through the ORCBS when it is either full, or within 90 days of putting the first item in it. Paul Rossi or Peter Grivins, in the Safety Office, Room 151, can help you with obtaining containers, or with any questions you may have on this policy.

First Lab picnic of 2001

Next week, on Wednesday, June 13, the first Lab picnic of the year will be held at noon in the NSCL backyard (atrium, if it rains). There will be hamburgers, hotdogs, baked beans, cookies, and soft drinks for $3/person. If you would like a vegetarian option, please e-mail Paul Mantica at "mantica." All Lab people are invited.

Visitors to the Lab

Rolf-Dietmar Herzberg, from the University of Liverpool, will give a special seminar on June 12. He will be at the Lab all day Tuesday and on Wednesday morning.

Bill Friedman, from the University of Wisconsin at Madison will give the regular nuclear science seminar next week. He plans to arrive on Monday and be here until Thursday morning.

Nguyen Dinh Dang, from RIKEN, will arrive on Monday to visit the Theory Group for two weeks. He is described as an "artist-physicist" who taught himself to paint at home in Vietnam and during graduate school in physics and mathematics at Moscow State University. Some of his paintings are posted at http://melon.riken.go.jp/~dang/page1.html.

An additional REU student (not listed last week) is Alex Chik, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who is working with Betty Tsang.

News of Lab people

Jon Bonofiglio has become the supervisor of the Cyclotron Operations. Greg Humenik, who used to have this position, is now a Computer Engineer, working on the Modicon controls for the cyclotrons (which he has actually been doing for some time now). Jeff Stetson is coordinating beam tuning studies, working out "rationalized" tuning and developing patterns for consistent tuning among all the individual operators.

A number of Lab people plan to attend the 2001 Particle Accelerator Conference, to be held in Chicago June 17-22. The group includes Henry Blosser, Dmitry Gorelov, Terry Grimm, Walter Hartung, Jong-Won Kim, Felix Marti, Peter Miller, Holgar Podlech, Eduard Pozdeyev, Alberto Rodriguez, Leonid Vorobiev, Xiaoyu Wu, and Richard York.

Anna Kindt is a new graduate student. She is working with Hendrik Schatz.

Bill Nurnbergerís daughter, Charli, graduated from Michigan Tech this semester with a double major in Chemistry and in Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. On July 17 she will begin her new job in Plant Operations and Engineering with the 3M Company. For the next couple of years she expects to travel around the country helping solve problems at any 3M manufacturing plant that asks for help.
 
 

Old issues (before January 2000) of New Scientist, Scientific American and Science are available for anyone who wants them. They are outside Room 8 (in the basement).

Available for your office: several filing cabinets and desks will go to Salvage unless someone needs them. They are available for a short time in Receiving.