Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs August 11, 2010

Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs
August 11, 2010

12 GeV Upgrade

The intermediate manufacturing readiness review for the torus magnet for the Hall B CLAS12 spectrometer was held in July at the vendor, Wang NMR. Short sample tests of the superconducting cable for the solenoid magnet were completed successfully at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, and the cable was shipped to Wang NMR. The production of the extruded scintillator for the Pre-Shower Calorimeter (PCAL) for CLAS12 concluded at Fermilab, and orders were placed for the PCAL wave-shifting fibers by The College of William & Mary and JLab. Stringing of guard wires and field-shaping wires was completed for the first sector of the CLAS12 Region 2 Drift Chamber. This first sector is being built as a joint effort among Old Dominion University, Idaho State University and JLab. A contract has been readied for ODU to string the remaining five Region 2 sectors. Molds were machined at JLab for the mirror production for the CLAS12 High Threshold Cerenkov Counter (HTCC). Seventeen (of 48) of the HTCC five-inch diameter quartz-face photomultiplier tubes have arrived and are being tested. For a Forward Time-of-Flight wall, a series of tests of candidate photomultiplier tubes and scintillator material were concluded with the participation of the University of South Carolina.

Physics

In Hall C, attempts to cool the Q-weak target did not succeed due to a leak in the target cell. Q-weak detector checkout and commissioning has continued with solid targets. In addition to tracking detector checkout with low-current beam, studies of the detector response to helicity-correlated beam properties have started. The Moller polarimeter, which was reassembled at a new position during the beamline upgrade, has been recomissioned. Commissioning of the new Compton polarimeter has started with the successful tuning of beam through the chicane with the laser on in the interaction region.

Early Career Research Program Pre-Applications Due Friday
DOE is accepting proposals for the second year of the DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program to support the research of outstanding scientists early in their careers. Up to $15 million in funding will be awarded in 2011 to support at least 50 early career researchers for five years at U.S. academic institutions and DOE national laboratories. Pre-applications are mandatory and are due by 4 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 13.

Accelerator

The accelerator was running over the weekend. Instability in the gang phase of the north linac radiofrequency system cleared up on its own. On Thursday, gun2 was hi-potted to 130 kiloVolts to eliminate field emission. On Sunday, the Central Helium Liquefier tripped off and was recovered a few hours later. After the CHL was recovered, vacuum valve VBV2L17A would not open. It was found that the insulating vacuum pump of zone 2L17 tripped, and the solenoid of VBV2L17A was leaking air. After the pump was turned on and the solenoid replaced, VBV2L17A was opened. Beam delivery resumed on Monday day shift.

Free-Electron Laser

The final major component needed before commissioning the Ultraviolet FEL, the narrow-gap wiggler chamber, was completed and was ready for final leak-checking and cleaning. With the temporary chamber removed, the team had the opportunity to check out the wiggler gap mechanism, which is now ready for operations.

JLab's Safety Numbers

26 Days since Last Recordable Accident (JLab record: 331)
148 Days since Last Lost Workday Accident (JLab record: 676)

JLab Calendar of Events

Aug. 12: Pre-SAD Safety Meeting
Aug. 20: Safety Shoe Vendor onsite
Aug. 23-25: PAC 36
Sept. 1: TEDF Groundbreaking Ceremony
Sept. 6: Labor Day holiday - JLab closed
Sept. 7: Safety Shoe Vendor onsite

 

 

 

Computing and Networking Infrastructure

Shutdown of wireless network 'jlab_secure' on Aug. 24
Wireless network 'jlab_secure' will be turned off on Tuesday, Aug. 24. If you are still connecting to 'jlab_secure,' you will need to migrate to wireless network 'jlab' at your earliest convenience. If you have any problems connecting to 'jlab,' contact the IT Helpdesk at x7155.

Power Outage this Weekend
Several buildings will experience power outages in support of the TEDF construction on Friday evening, Aug. 13 through Saturday, Aug. 14. Both CEBAF Center and the EEL will lose power on Friday evening at 5:30 and have power restored by 10 p.m. The Test Lab and Buildings 52, 57, 59 and surrounding buildings will lose power on Saturday at 7 a.m., with power being restored by 5 p.m. To protect your computers, plan to turn off your computers and UPS systems before leaving the lab for the weekend.

Scientific Computing Outage
Due to the weekend power outage, all Scientific Computing servers and batch farm systems will be shut down by 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13. The systems should be back up by late Saturday evening. All users are asked to plan work accordingly.

Redhat Enterprise Linux Version 3 Support Ending
Redhat will stop support for the Redhat Enterprise Linux 3 version of its operating system in October. As a result, JLab will stop supporting RHEL3 on Oct. 1. If you are running a RHEL3 system, plan to upgrade to RHEL5 no later than Oct. 1. Installation CDs are available from the IT Division Helpdesk, which is open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. If you have questions about upgrading your system, contact the IT Helpdesk at x7155 or at helpdesk@jlab.org.

Announcements

Pre-SAD Safety Meeting
The Pre-Scheduled Accelerator Down Safety Meeting will be held Thursday, Aug. 12 from 1:30-2:45 p.m. in the CEBAF Center Auditorium. This is a mandatory meeting for anyone in the Engineering, Accelerator and ESH&Q Divisions who will be working inside the fenced area during the down.

Health Care Reform and JLab Benefits
On March 23, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as Health Care Reform) was signed into law. The bill involves a number of changes to employer-sponsored health care and benefit plans. The majority of the changes will not take effect for several years, while some mandates will be implemented in the coming months. To see how these changes may affect you, see the full announcement.

Return to Vendor Form Online
If you ordered something for your work at JLab and the item you received isn't what you ordered, is broken or isn’t what was advertised, you will need to fill out the Return to Vendor form online. The form is available on the Shipping/Receiving homepage. The online form requires the same information as the formerly printed form. Once all the required fields are complete, click the submit button. After submitting the form, either bring the package to Shipping/Receiving or submit a work order to have it picked up.

JLab Strategic Plan Available Online
The JLab Strategic Plan is now available for review online. The document has been posted to the Insight page in the Popular Applications portlet.

Can You Find Technical Information Faster with Knovel?
Arrangements have been made for a trial of Knovel, a web-based engineering resources application integrating technical information with analytical and search tools. The trial will be available until Aug. 27. To use the application, visit the Knovel trial page. Upon entering, register as a trial participant. After registering, you will receive an e-mail to activate your new profile. An "Introduction to Knovel" webinar session will take place Thursday, Aug. 12 at 3 p.m. to help employees get started and derive optimum benefit from this trial. Click the link to register. If you have questions or concerns, contact Elois Morgan at x7525.

United Way School Tools Drive
The annual United Way School Tools Drive at JLab will run from Aug. 16–31. Collection boxes for donations of new school supplies will be in Building 85, and in the CEBAF Center, VARC and ARC lobbies. School supplies for students of any grade level may be placed in the boxes and will be collected until close-of-business Tuesday, Aug. 31. Appropriate items include: pens, pencils, student scissors, crayons, spiral notebooks, 3-ring binders, binder paper, pocket folders, rulers and protractor/compass sets. The United Way will collect and disburse the materials to area schools. For more information, e-mail or call Joshua Cameron at x7628.