Commissioning and running of sPHENIX

["Yip, Kin" <kinyip AT bnl.gov>]

Hello,

 

Some of you should have received the NPP weekly.  I just highlight the following sentences:

 

> Both the Blue and Yellow Ring warm hi-pot checks have now been completed. Pre-run electrical tests of the quench protection diodes followed

> and revealed a shorted diode in the Blue Ring.  Work planning is underway to remove and replace this diode which shall require an estimated three

> weeks to complete. .  Meanwhile all other diodes in both the Blue and Yellow Rings were successfully tested. 

 

So, after the “hipot problem” was resolved, they found a shorted diode (3Q8, near the 4 o’clock --- Don Bruno told me).

 

Roberto Than (from the Cryo Group) told me that to replace that diode, they have to cut through all 5 circuits/pipes (not just the “M” circuit).   They can’t complete the scrubbing before

the repair is completed.  Roberto thinks that it’d take a couple weeks for scrubbing after the repair and only then can they start 45 k cool-down.

 

3 weeks from today is  ~ Feb. 19, 2024.  A couple weeks (of scrubbing) pushes it to Mar. 4 at the earliest to cool down.   In principle, they just need to cool-down for 45K ~Mar. 15 to make

the 4K cool-down possible on Apr. 15.

 

So, there is no delay (as the cooldown is to be started on Apr. 15).

 

Kin

 

From: Capasso, Frances <capasso AT bnl.gov>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2024 11:55 AM
To: Physics Personnel <PhysicsPersonnel AT bnl.gov>; Cadet, Cassandre <ccadet AT bnl.gov>; IP Personnel List <IPPersonnelList AT bnl.gov>
Subject: NPP Weekly Update (January 29th, 2024)

 

To the members of the Nuclear and Particle Physics Directorate,

 

NPP Weekly Update (January 29^th, 2024)

 

• I am delighted to share the wonderful news that Henryk Chelminski, Cathy Cutler, Mark Davis, Jack Eng, Theresa Grimaldi, Jasmine Hatcher-Lamarre,  Dohyun Kim, Criselda Manalo, Dmitri Medvedev, David O'Rourke, Brocco Pagano, Vanessa Sanders, Kristin Torres, Christopher Vitkun, Nora Wilke and Weimin Zhou will be honored by the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and the associated Under Secretary (if applicable) as a recipient of an Achievement Award for their work on the Actinium-225 (Ac-225) Tri-Lab Research Team at the DOE virtual Honor Awards Ceremony, which will take place on February 20^th. I would like to congratulate the entire team on being selected to receive a Secretary’s Honor Award! It is the Department of Energy’s highest form of employee recognition for achievements.  

 

• Last Friday, Jan. 26, the Hospitalization Admission Level of COVID-19 in Suffolk County decreased from "High" to "Medium" as weekly new hospital admissions of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people dropped below 20.0, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a result of this change, face coverings are no longer required on the Brookhaven Lab site or within Lab buildings, facilities, and vehicles. Of course, anyone may continue to wear a face covering, and we encourage their continued use when traveling together with colleagues in vehicles or working with multiple people in small spaces.

  

• Update on RHIC/1004B valve box:  Pre-run electrical testing (hi-potting) of the RHIC accelerator power supply circuits in the Blue Ring continued last week.  Troubleshooting of a soft short to ground identified a reversed voltage tap connector which has been corrected.  Both the Blue and Yellow Ring warm hi-pot checks have now been completed. Pre-run electrical tests of the quench protection diodes followed and revealed a shorted diode in the Blue Ring.  Work planning is underway to remove and replace this diode which shall require an estimated three weeks to complete.  Meanwhile all other diodes in both the Blue and Yellow Rings were successfully tested.  Electrical testing at the 1004B valve box was also completed last week.  Welding of the valve box’s lead pot and remaining splice boxes at the IR4 DX magnet will resume next week.

 

• Update on the RHIC ASE Changes and the Associated USI Evaluations: after addressing all the comments from the ES&H ALD, the revised package has been submitted by the ES&H ALD to the Site Office last week. Concerning the associated modifications to the RHIC ODH system, all new installations - new visual and audio sensors, anemometers, cabling, and electronics – have been completed.  Testing of these modifications and work on the service building exhaust fans are underway. 

 

• At the Project Oversight Board (POB) meeting last Friday, the status of US ATLAS HL-LHC detector upgrade, HL-LHC Accelerator Upgrade, and LuSEE-Night projects were presented. The projects are progressing while challenges with delivery times of components and increased costs require close attention. The US ATLAS HL-LHC detector upgrade project will have its annual DOE project review on February 21-23 at BNL.

 

• Sergei Nagaitsev, formerly Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) senior advisor and principal accelerator scientist at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in Newport News, VA, was named

the new EIC technical director based at Brookhaven, effective Jan. 22, 2024. The announcement was made last week jointly by JoAnne Hewett, BNL Lab Director and Stuart Henderson, Jefferson Lab Director. We look forward to working with Sergei in his new role and thank Ferdinand Willeke for his great leadership and many accomplishments during the past four years as the EIC technical director. Ferdinand is now a senior advisor at EIC.

 

• Dmitri Medvedev has agreed to take on the role of Head of Research for the Isotope Research and Production Department starting February 1, 2024. Let’s congratulate Dmitri and thank him for taking on this important responsibility.

• Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Physics issued a $8 million funding opportunity announcement to advance nuclear physics research and development in accelerator science and technology. Selected projects will help lay the research and development groundwork for next-generation accelerators in addition to potential upgrades to existing facilities. Submission Deadline for Applications:  March 4, 2024, at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time. Learn more about this funding opportunity announcement and eligibility by visiting the website.

• Several of the 3^rd cohort of African School of Physics alumni, who came to the US for the period of July 2023 – January 2024 gave a colloquium at BNL last week on January 23, 2024. The slides and their activity reports can be found at https://indico.cern.ch/event/1236078/. Congratulations to all the students and their mentors for the great job, especially to Kétévi Assamagan for his leadership of the program!

 

• The DEI Quarterly Themes initiative has undergone some changes. The initiative has been renamed to DEI Focus Themes and will present 2 themes per year. Based on feedback received, the duration period has been extended to 4 months per theme. FY24’s first Focus Theme is Psychological Safety. In a psychologically safe workspace, employees feel empowered to express ideas and concerns, ask questions, make, and learn from mistakes, and contribute to meaningful conversations without fear of consequences.  All people leaders should meet with their direct reports to discuss the focus theme. The goal is to cascade the theme down through your organization so that everyone has an opportunity to participate in small group conversations. Learning resources and activities are available at BNL | DEI Focus Themes.

 

• By now, most of you will have had your performance appraisal meeting with your supervisor and all should be finalizing FY24 performance goals.  With Workday Phase II go-live scheduled for March, the Laboratory will move forward with Performance Goal Setting outside of a system using the editable template found on the Learning & Development-Performance Management page. The document will serve as your personal record of Goal Setting until Workday Performance Management goes live, at which time you will copy and paste your goals into the system.

 

• Get to know your colleagues better, please read the staff profiles featured at our webpage https://www.bnl.gov/npp/. We now have four new contributions and more will be posted once they are ready. If you are interested, please get in touch with Maria Chamizo Llatas at mchamizo AT bnl.gov.

 

Upcoming week and beyond

• The ALD Zoom office hour is scheduled on February 2, 2024, from 11:15 – 12:15 noon. The Zoom link is https://bnl.zoomgov.com/j/1611990306?pwd=WGJCZ1JJUDBETlQwdXdVbU5PcnlVUT09&from=addon.

• February is the Black History Month, also known as African American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated in February in the United States and Canada, while in Ireland, and the United Kingdom it is observed in October.

• A BNL P5 retreat will take place on February 9^th to share ideas about the BNL participation in the implementation of the P5 plan. The retreat will be in the Physics Department Large Seminar Room and Zoom connection will be available. If you would like to make a brief presentation, please contact the retreat program committee (Michael Begel, Dmitri Denisov, Steve Kettell, Hong Ma, Mark Palmer). The retreat will have time for questions and discussions. The program (and Zoom link) will be on the Indico: https://indico.bnl.gov/event/21783/ with access code: P5@BNL.

Haiyan Gao

Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics

 

Fran Capasso

Assistant to the Associate laboratory Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics

Brookhaven National Laboratory

20 Pennsylvania Street

PO Box 5000, bldg. 510F

Upton, NY 11973

 

Phone:  631.344.3830

Emai:    capasso AT bnl.gov

 

 

From: Gao, Haiyan <hgao AT bnl.gov>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2024 10:24 AM
To: Capasso, Frances <capasso AT bnl.gov>
Subject: Weekly news for today

 

Dear Fran:

See attached for today and thank you.

 

Best, Haiyan

 

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Haiyan Gao (she/her/hers)

Associate Laboratory Director, Nuclear and Particle Physics

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Building 510, 1-34

Email: hgao AT bnl.gov

Phone: 631-344-2431 (office), 631-461-2867 (cell)

 

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