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J-PARC Project Newsletter
No.62, April 2016
Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex under operation jointly by
the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and the Japan
Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)
http://j-parc.jp/index-e.html
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HEADLINES AND CONTENTS
1. [Overview]
New fiscal year of J-PARC.
2. [Accelerator Division]
ACCELERATOR STUDY FOR HIGHER USER OPERATION PARAMETERS AND BEAM
DELIVERY TO USERS.
ACCELERATOR TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (A-TAC) MEETING.
3. [Particle and Nuclear Physics Division]
DISCUSSION ON EXTENSION OF THE HADRON EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY.
PROF. EMERITUS KOICHIRO NISHIKAWA AND PROF. KENZO NAKAMURA GOT YOJI
TOTSUKA PRIZE.
STATUS OF THE COMET CRYOGENIC SYSTEM AND E34 MUON BEAM.
PROGRAMS OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS.
REPORTS FROM THE PARTICLE & NUCLEAR PHYSICS DIVISION.
4. [Materials and Life Science Division]
MATERIALS AND LIFE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY (MLF) USER OPERATION
RESUMED.
NINETY-SEVEN NEUTRON PROPOSALS WERE APPROVED FOR THE 2016A PERIOD.
NEUTRON USER PROGRAM RESUMED.
FIRST WORKSHOP FOR J-PARC/ANSTO MOU COLLABORATION AND THE 7TH MLF
SYMPOSIUM.
GENERATION OF ULTRA SLOW MUON IS CONFIRMED.
5. [Nuclear Transmutation Division]
CHALLENGES TO CONFINE HIGH TEMPERATURE LIQUID METAL.
6. [Safety Division]
THIRD SYMPOSIUM ON SAFETY IN ACCELERATOR FACILITIES.
A MEETING FOR EXCHANGING INFORMATION ON SAFETY EFFORTS IN J-PARC
CENTER.
7. [Information System Section]
THE SCIENCE INFORMATION NETWORK (SINET) UPGRADE TO 5 MAKES J-PARC
NETWORK SPEED UP.
8. [Editorial Note]
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1. [Overview] by Naohito SAITO
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New fiscal year of J-PARC
We have entered the second year of the new management group
including myself. As we reported in the previous newsletter, we had
many struggles last year. While we were able to restart the hadron
facility last year, we had to stop the operation of the Materials and
Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) for nearly three months due
to target problems. Towards the end of the last run, we had to stop
the Main Ring (MR) operation unexpectedly earlier due to coil damage
in one of the dipole magnets, then we had a collimator/duct
replacement in the 3-GeV Rapid Cycling Synchrotron (RCS), which
delayed the start of the current run. We are reminding ourselves that
single failure could lead to a stop of whole facility, and will
improve our risk management for all over the J-PARC facilities.
On the other hand, we were able to make a strong tie with both
oversea and domestic institutes: newly established research
cooperation with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organization (ANSTO) as was reported in the J-PARC News (issue #123)
and the branch established by Osaka University at J-PARC. Besides
Ibaraki University has created a new graduate course for quantum beam
science, which include lectures and lab-course related to the MLF in
J-PARC.
We think these deeper connections with experienced facilities
and universities will bring the J-PARC to its new stage as an
international user research facility.
We have just received the report from International Advisory
Committee (IAC) in the final form. (URL link to be provided) While
the IAC recognized our efforts on safety and scientific production,
it also urges us to further strengthen the scientific drive across the
J-PARC facilities. We have established the science coordination team
at MLF which is uniformly organized including JAEA, KEK, CROSS and
Ibaraki. We will continue to work together more closely with users for
more science production.
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2. [Accelerator Division] by Kazuo HASEGAWA
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ACCELERATOR STUDY FOR HIGHER USER OPERATION PARAMETERS AND BEAM
DELIVERY TO USERS
After the New Year's holiday, the beam operation started on
January 7 as a new operation run of Run#66. First, the linac current
was set at 50 mA, and accelerator study at high beam current was
carried out for the linac and the 3 GeV Rapid Cycling Synchrotron
(RCS). Then the current was changed to 40 mA and fine tuning study
aiming at user operation parameter setting was done in the linac, the
RCS and the main ring (MR).
As a result of the study, the beam power to the neutrino facility
was increased to 330 - 390 kW (it was 300 - 330 kW at 30 mA by the
end of 2015) from February 1. However, the MR beam operation was
suspended by a vacuum leak at the MR abort line on February 25. Some
measures were taken and the beam operation resumed on March 3. In
addition, another failure occurred at the coil of the main
electromagnet on March 29 and recovery work was taken.
After the target failure in November at the Materials and Life
Science Experimental Facility (MLF), the beam tuning and user program
were restarted on February 14 and 20, respectively. It was operated
with conservative beam power at 206 kW to protect the target. To
improve the quality of the experiments even at the lower beam power,
temporarily the accelerator provides one bunch beam instead of two
bunches, which makes shorter pulse and some MLF users want. The
accelerator delivered beam successfully to the MLF as scheduled in
March.
ACCELERATOR TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (A-TAC) MEETING
The 15th A-TAC meeting was held at the J-PARC Research Building
on February 25 to 27. Ten committee members attended and about 20
reports were presented such as operational status, commissioning
results and performance upgrade. The committee deliberated the
improvements, directivity, etc., and gave recommendations.
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3. [Particle and Nuclear Physics Division] by K. OZAWA, T. TSUKAMOTO,
S. MIHARA AND T. KOMATSUBARA
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DISCUSSION ON EXTENSION OF THE HADRON EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY
(by K. Ozawa)
An international workshop on physics in the extended Hadron
Experimental Facility was held at Tokai building # 1 of KEK on March
5 and 6. In the workshop, it was discussed on an extension of an
experimental hall in the existing Hadron Experimental Facility. The
workshop aimed to develop further possibilities in physics and
improve design of proposed beam lines at the extended Hadron
Experimental Facility.
The workshop had 62 participants including 13 from foreign
countries and 20 contributed talks both in particle physics and
nuclear physics research fields. Also, several interesting topics were
discussed. One of major topics was to search a new physics beyond the
standard model using measurements of Kaon rare decays. Another
interesting topic was to investigate an internal structure of hadrons
using charm quark related hadrons. Also, strangeness physics was
expanded using high precision and high statistics measurements. Based
on discussions at the workshop, a letter of intent for the extension
of the Hadron Facility will be drafted promptly.
A combination project for the extension of the hadron facility,
g-2 experiment, and COMET Phase-II experiment was selected as one of
important large scale projects of Master Plan 2014, which is called
by the Science Council of Japan. The project was also listed in a road
map of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (MEXT) for large scale projects.
For details of the workshop, please refer to the following URL:
https://kds.kek.jp/indico/event/20472/
PROF. EMERITUS KOICHIRO NISHIKAWA AND PROF. KENZO NAKAMURA GOT YOJI
TOTSUKA PRIZE (by T. Tsukamoto)
Prof. Emeritus Koichiro Nishikawa of the High Energy Accelerator
Research Organization (KEK) and Prof. Kenzo Nakamura of KAVLI
Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) were
awarded the 7th Yoji Totsuka prize for the verification of accelerator
neutrino oscillation from the atmospheric neutrino oscillation in
Super-Kamiokande, and their leadership in the K2K project. It is
needless to say, the achievement of K2K led to current T2K project.
http://www.hfbs.or.jp/orito-totsuka-prize-index.html (only in
Japanese)
T2K restarted on data taking after 8-month maintenance of
neutrino beam facility and it is running at 390-kW.
Test experiments T59, T60 and T64 have been carried out at the
Neutrino Monitor Building (NM) and/or the Neutrino Assembly Building
(NA). T59 is preparing the detector to measure neutrino interaction
with water, which consists of plastic scintillators and water. T60 is
measuring neutrino interaction with emulsion counters. T64 started to
measure neutron background at NM in February.
STATUS OF THE COMET CRYOGENIC SYSTEM AND E34 MUON BEAM
(by S. Mihara)
Preparation of the COMET cryogenic system in a super-conducting
magnet system is in progress.
The liquid-helium refrigerator previously used in the E36
experiment has been moved to the COMET experiment area. A current-lead
box was installed to supply electric current from the power supply at
room temperature to the magnet at liquid-helium temperature and was
tested successfully.
The E34 collaboration prepares for precision measurements of
muon anomalous magnetic moment and electric dipole moment. The
collaboration completed tests with muon beam in muon source
development and a muon beam profile monitor at muon facility in the
Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF).
These tests were crucial to realize the muon acceleration. Advanced
design for the muon LINAC in the low energy range was completed.
PROGRAMS OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS (by T. KOMATSUBARA)
The 20th and 21st PAC meetings were held, at Tokai, on July 15 -
17, 2015 and January 13 - 15, 2016, respectively. Status of
experiments were reported and machine time allocation was discussed
in the meetings.
https://kds.kek.jp/indico/event/19054/
https://kds.kek.jp/indico/event/20540/
PAC reports are available through the following web page.
http://j-parc.jp/researcher/Hadron/en/PAC_for_NuclPart_e.html
REPORTS FROM THE PARTICLE & NUCLEAR PHYSICS DIVISION
(by T. KOMATSUBARA)
At the J-PARC IAC2016 meeting held on February 29 and March 1,
2016, overview of the physics programs, hadron beam resumption, and
highlights from Nuclear physics, Neutrino physics, Kaon physics and
Muon physics were reported.
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4. [Materials and Life Science Division] by Toshiji KANAYA
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MATERIALS AND LIFE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY (MLF) USER OPERATION
RESUMED
1) Neutron Source
In January 2016, it is replaced the neutron production target
vessel that had a failure in last November with an alternative which
has mechanically robust structure. However, the replacement does not
equip the helium bubbling system which is necessary for stable
operation with a power higher than 300-kW. Therefore, we restarted the
MLF user operation with a beam power 200-kW from February 20.
We are making efforts to improve the robustness of the target
vessel by eliminating welds, and/or bolts as much as possible. In
February 22, a design review was held to assess the adequacy of
improvements in the design of the target vessel.
During the maintenance period for the target vessel replacement,
we had also made efforts to recover the performance of the helium
refrigerator of the cryogenic hydrogen circulation system by
regenerating active charcoal of an oil separator, a heat exchanger,
and so on. Unfortunately, the performance could not recover yet, by
another possible cause such as oil contamination. We took a measure
to reduce helium flow to suppress a source of the contamination at the
compressor of the refrigerator and stop the operation for purification
for 6 days after 3-week operating period. We'll take every measure to
solve this problem in the summer shut-down period.
NINETY-SEVEN NEUTRON PROPOSALS WERE APPROVED FOR THE 2016A PERIOD
NEUTRON USER PROGRAM RESUMED
FIRST WORKSHOP FOR J-PARC/ANSTO MOU COLLABORATION AND THE 7TH MLF
SYMPOSIUM
2) Neutron Instruments and Science
The general proposals for the 2016A period were reviewed by the
Neutron Science Proposal Review Committee. The total number of
submitted neutron proposals was 290. Finally 97 neutron proposals were
approved by the MLF Advisory Board. The total competition rate (number
of submitted / approved proposals) is as high as 3.0.
From February 20, we resumed the user program, which had been
suspended due to the target problem from November 20. The all
suspended proposals approved for 2014B and 2015A periods will be
carried out with 2016A.
On March 2 and 3, the 1st workshop for J-PARC/ANSTO MOU
collaboration was held at the J-PARC Research Building with the
attendance of the Minister-Counsellor at the Embassy of Australia, Mr.
Anthony Murfett and twelve participants from Australian Nuclear
Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) including the CEO, Dr. Adi
Paterson. To promote the collaboration in fields of neutron scattering
science and technology based on the MOU which has been newly
contracted in July 2015, six topics of deuteration technique, neutron
polarization, science & instrumentation, sample environment,
industrial engagement, and safety were intensively discussed to
deepen mutual understanding of current status of both facilities and
to develop near-future collaborations under the leadership of the
coordinators in each field.
Quantum Beam Science Festa 2015 involving the 7th MLF Symposium
and the 33rd PF Symposium was held on March 15 and 16 at Epochal
Tsukuba. On 15th, two plenary talks by Professor Yoshio Takahashi of
the University of Tokyo on geo- and environmental-chemistry and
Professor Kiyohiko Igarashi of the University of Tokyo on structural
analysis of protein, 18 oral talks and 317 posters were presented as a
common program of MLF and PF symposium. In MLF Symposium on 16th, a
memorial session was held in memory of the late Prof. Kusuo Nishiyama
and the late Prof. Noboru Watanabe. After the special talk on sparse
modelling for data analysis by Prof. Masato Okada of the University
of Tokyo, seven oral presentations were made.
GENERATION OF ULTRA SLOW MUON IS CONFIRMED
3) Muon Science Facility (MUSE)
When the "Ultra Slow Muon Microscope" project was launched in
2011 as a whole-community enterprise, no one imagined that it have
many twists and turns in reaching the first goal of ultra slow muon
(USM) beam production. Apart from conceivable difficulties in
planning, the project was forced a slow start under a protracted
influence of the gigantic East-Japan earthquake, and it experienced a
series of unscheduled long-term interruptions due to the incidents in
the Hadron hall and the MLF. The e-mail from the experimenters at U1A
cabin on February 21 reported on a time-of-flight peak that signaled
generation of USM. It is all the more delightful among people who were
concerned with the project and awaited the news impatiently.
However, it has also remind us the next things that needs to do before
delivering the real first beam to the U1A experimental area. The
efforts for optimizing the USM beam will be continued for a while, in
parallel with user programs at D-line and surface muon beam
development at S-line.
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5. [Nuclear Transmutation Division] by Toshinobu SASA
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CHALLENGES TO CONFINE HIGH TEMPERATURE LIQUID METAL
Liquid lead-bismuth eutectic alloy (LBE) is adopted to the
Accelerator-driven system (ADS) for transmutation of long-lived
radioactive waste as a spallation target and coolant for subcritical
core. LBE gives satisfactory characteristics to spallation neutron
production, waste transmutation reaction, wide range of liquid phase
temperature, and chemically inert water/air. In contrast to these
feasible properties, LBE shows highly corrosive attribute with
stainless steel, typical nuclear reactor material. LBE has
characteristics to bind with Nickel, which is one of the major
compounds of stainless steel, and extract Nickel selectively from
steel surface.
To solve the corrosion issues of LBE, forming the film layer on
inner piping surface is considered as the promising method. If we
control the oxygen potential in LBE, we can form the oxide film layer
in the piping. However, if oxygen is taken too much into LBE, excess
oxide compounds may cause a blockage of a loop. On the other hand, if
the oxygen potential is too low, enough thickness of oxide layer is
not formed, and it raises corrosion of LBE. It means we need the
precise oxygen potential control system for LBE loop with preparing
accurate oxygen potential measurement device.
By the cooperation with European MYRRHA team including Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology, we were successfully developed the oxygen
potential sensor, which can be applicable for radioactive LBE
environment. To control the oxygen potential in flowing LBE in two
large-scale experimental loops, IMMORTAL (Integrated Multi-purpose
MOckup for TEF-T Real-scale TArget Loop) and OLLOCHI (Oxygen-
controlled LBE LOop for Corrosion experiment in HIgh-temperature),
preparation for the systems are also in progress. The functional tests
for the systems have been started and it will be operated in the
fiscal year 2016.
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6. [Safety Division] by Yukihiro MIYAMOTO and Kotaro BESSHO
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THIRD SYMPOSIUM ON SAFETY IN ACCELERATOR FACILITIES
To foster safety culture and learn lessons from radioactive
material leak incident in the Hadron Experimental Facility in 2013,
the J-PARC Center holds a safety symposium every year to exchange
information and discuss efforts for ensuring facility safety and
related matters. The 3rd Symposium on Safety in Accelerator
Facilities was held on January 27-28 at Tokai, and about 150
participants from various facilities, universities and companies,
shared information on various safety issues. Two kinds of topics,
"Management of radioactivity induced in accelerator facilities" and
"Safety measures for low-temperature equipment and high-pressure gas
equipment at accelerator facilities" were featured in the present
symposium in addition to the existing topics such as "Lessons learned
from incidents" and "Radiation safety at accelerator facilities".
Various safety efforts were reported and discussed through 13 oral
presentations and 15 poster presentations. The participants deepened
mutual understanding on safety issues and appropriate measures at
accelerator facilities.
A MEETING FOR EXCHANGING INFORMATION ON SAFETY EFFORTS IN J-PARC
CENTER
In order to exchange and share information on safety efforts
proceeding in each facility, a J-PARC Center meeting was held on March
30. A variety of activities for safety was reported from accelerator
facilities and three experimental facilities (the Hadron Experimental
Facility, the Neutrino Experimental Facility, and the Materials and
Life Science Experimental Facility). These unique approaches shared in
the meeting would be effective in reconsidering safety activities at
each facility, division, section, and group in J-PARC.
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7. [Information System Section] by Atsushi MANABE
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THE SCIENCE INFORMATION NETWORK (SINET) UPGRADE TO 5 MAKES J-PARC
NETWORK SPEED UP
On April 1, the National Institute of Informatics (NII) has
upgraded SINET from version 4 to 5 which is a gateway from J-PARC
network to the internet and also an important connection between
J-PARC Tokai and KEK Tsukuba campus. Thanks to NII support in the
upgrade, the network bandwidth between Tsukuba and Tokai could be
increased from 1 Gbps x 8 to 10 Gbps (internet connection: 10 Gbps).
Besides the current bandwidth, the upgrade offers a future option
of 20 Gbps for both of the connections if J-PARC network can be
adapted.
http://www.sinet.ad.jp
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8. [Editorial Note]
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Editorial Board:
Toshifumi TSUKAMOTO (Chair): toshifumi.tsukamoto@kek.jp
Kaoru SHIBATA: shibata.kaoru@ jaea.go.jp
Takashi ITO: itou.takashi@jaea.go.jp
Dick MISCHKE (English Editor): mischke@triumf.ca
Junko BEANBLOSSOM (Secretary): beanblossom.junko@jaea.go.jp
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