LS1 Report: It's summer in the tunnel

A major milestone was passed this week at the PS Booster, where the first Personnel Access Door (PAD) of the new PS Complex access system is now operational. The new Material Access Door will follow very shortly.

A SMACC project technician opens the busbar lines in the interconnections, giving access to the splices to be consolidated. More images of the SMACC works can be seen here.

In the LHC, another significant milestone should be reached by the end of this week, when all 8 sectors will be fully warmed up to room temperature for the first time since the start of the LHC commissioning over 5 years ago. At the moment, the final QPS (Quench Protection System) tests are in progress in sector 7-8 and the ELQA measurements continue in sector 1-2.

As for the SMACC project, the highly symbolic re-welding of the first interconnect in sector 5-6 was completed last week. The full programme will not get up to speed for another few weeks, but this demonstrates that the personnel, working methods and equipment are in place and ready. Concerning the R2E mitigation project, work continues disconnecting the racks around point 7, which will move into UJ76.

Preparations for the major irradiated cable campaign are continuing at the SPS. Although this work does not start until the autumn, preparation for the works must be completed well in advance to ensure that the proposed planning and working methods meet the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) goals to minimize the radiation dose taken by all those people involved in the campaign. Removal of the beam line equipment in TT10 will also start this week, to prepare for some major repairs to the tunnel floor and ceiling.

In the PS tunnel, the asbestos removal programme at stations 6 and 8 as well as the galleries 1 and 3 is complete, and the civil engineering works to prepare for the new installations have started, on schedule. Preparatory work for the asbestos removal is starting in the galleries 5 and 7. Because of the shielding re-enforcement at Route Goward, access to the central ring area of the PS for private cars is still forbidden and essential material deliveries are restricted to a small temporary road until July.

by Simon Baird