A few days ago, a team of TRIUMF's most dedicated staff reached some significant milestones.
In the Meson Hall, working long days and moving things forward each and every week, an elite team of scientists, engineers, and technicians completed repairs on Beam Line 1A (BL1A) and restored "protons on target" ahead of schedule. On the morning of Saturday August 13, 50 microA were delivered from the main cyclotron to the beam line and students from the TSI summer school were busily experimenting with the technology of muon spin relaxation (muSR) and two visiting groups made use of the Proton Irradiation Facility. Since then BL1A has been running stably with up to 100 microA of beam current delivering beam to multiple users.
What made this accomplishment especially significant was that it included some of the most challenging tasks of the maintenance period. Although the main cyclotron went back into operation in the early spring, repairs and upgrades on Beam Line 1A in the Meson Hall continued. The team had to deal with the delicate tasks of unstacking and restacking 35 ton shielding blocks in precise order, repairing complex water and vacuum leaks, and adjusting the beam line to make way for future installation of the M-20 muon facility. The beam line is one of the oldest at TRIUMF and the team systematically dealt with all the surprises and uncertainties that come with that type of history.
Amazingly, the work was finished ahead of schedule. Congratulations to the Remote Handling group, Beamlines, Plant Services, the Meson-Hall crew, and the Engineering and Accelerator divisions; they all worked some real magic. Ron Kuramoto, Doug Preddy, and Roman Ruegg, are especially acknowledged for their skilled leadership and incredible efforts.
Meanwhile in ISAC, the Targets and Remote Handling team also successfully tested Target Module 1 (TM1) with beam. This module underwent significant refurbishing in the past year that includes a brand new source tray and repairs of critical water line joints in the service cap. The module performed perfectly and clears the way for the next phase of actinide-target running with 2 microAmps of beam on a UCx target scheduled for September.
Congratulations and many thanks to Bevan Moss who led the TM1 refurbishing program, Grant Minor and the rest of Remote Handling, and Vacuum Group for their tireless efforts to reach this milestone. Special thanks and appreciation to Chapman Lim from the Science Division for his expert help and support.
We salute the heroes of TRIUMF who made this all happen!
--by T.I. Meyer with guidance from Lia Merminga