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J-PARC Project Newsletter
Special Issue, May 2011
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]
DAMAGE DUE TO THE BIG EARTHQUAKE - OVERALL OBSERVATIONS.
MAJOR POINTS.
BUDGET.
WHEN TO RECOVER?
NEW ORGANIZATION OFFICIALLY STARTED.
2. [Accelerator Division]
STATUS OF ACCELERATOR FACILITIES
3. [Nuclear and Particle Physics Division]
FIGHTING FOR RECOVERY OF HADRON FACILITY.
STATUS OF NEUTRINO FACILITY.
4. [Materials and Life Science Division]
MLF BUILDING LOOKS LIKE STANDING AGAINST A SEVERE EARTHQUAKE, BUT.....
DAMAGE EVALUATION OF NEUTRON BEAMLINE AND INSTRUMENTS IS ONGOING.
DAMAGES OF MUSE WERE NOT TOO SERIOUS.
5. [Safety Division]
THE INSPECTION WAS POSTPONED
6. [Editorial Note]
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1. [Overview] by Shoji NAGAMIYA
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DAMAGE DUE TO THE BIG EARTHQUAKE - OVERALL OBSERVATIONS
The Eastern Japan Earthquake registering a magnitude of 9 hit a
broad area in Japan, including Tokai, at 14:46 of March 11, 2011.
We had serious damage. Since most readers already know what happened
to J-PARC, I will summarize the situation very briefly.
1) No tsunami hit the J-PARC. This is due to our tsunami protection
up to 8 meters.
2) Major components for the Linac, 3 GeV, 50 GeV, Materials and Life
Science Experimental Facility (MLF), neutrino facility, and
hadron facility received no serious damage, due to many underpins
for the corresponding buildings.
3) On the other hand, all roads around the buildings and utilities, in
particular power supplies and cooling water supplies, received
significant damage. In addition, new added buildings were dropped by
30 cm and they were damaged.
MAJOR POINTS
1) Power Supplies and Cooling Water: Power lines and cooling water
are gradually recovering for 50 GeV, neutrino, hadron and MLF.
However, for 3 GeV both power supplies and cooling water were
significantly inclined and damaged. Since the access road to 3 GeV
was also damaged, we are now repairing the road first and, then,
inspecting both power and water lines. We set the first priority
now for the recovery of these.
2) Power Lines: Also, the power cables were sharply bent, in
particular, in the 3 GeV and Linac area. Over one thousand cables
are being checked one by one. Currently, we still have problems to
apply high voltages at the Linac, since the high voltage power panel
was damaged.
3) Alignment: Alignment of all elements has been initiated.
We noticed that the biggest movement was observed for the Linac.
The floor in the middle was approximately a 4 cm smooth drop. GPS
measurements together with laser alignment will be done for the
entire system. This work will be completed before the summer.
4) Movement of Shielding Walls: Some significant movement was
detected in the neutron shield area as well as in the hadron shield
area. In both cases a few 1000 tons of shield materials must be
first removed and then reinstalled before fixing this movement.
5) Linac Problem: Among the various accelerator buildings, the
linac building had several serious problems. The crane does not
work, many beam monitors have been destroyed, etc. In addition,
it turned out, in the middle of Linac, the beamline sank about 4 cm,
as described above.
6) Other needed repairs are described in the individual sections
below.
BUDGET
Immediately after the Earthquake we inspected everything and
estimated an approximate number for repairs to the level of
200 Oku Yen. After that, our more realistic estimate was dropped
significantly. We are making a more accurate estimate. Recently
the first supplemental budget was approved in Diet. The second
supplemental budget will be approved in July or so. Our major
target is this second supplemental budget. Meanwhile, we are
spending our regular operation fund as much as possible for the
repair work.
WHEN TO RECOVER?
1) We will try to resume J-PARC activity including the accelerator
complex, MLF, Hadron and Neutrino by December, 2011.
2) Within JFY2011 (until March 2012) we set a goal to have at
least 2 cycles of operation for users.
3) Scheduling, in particular, for construction and repairs for
buildings and roads are currently being negotiated both within
JAEA and KEK.
NEW ORGANIZATION OFFICIALLY STARTED
A new organization for the neutron science has officially
started on April 1st of 2011. From October of 2011 the entire
facility of the Linac and 3 GeV together with most of neutron
facilities will be controlled directly by the Government, MEXT.
The MEXT assigned its official organization to look over these
neutron beam lines. The organization called Comprehensive
Research Organization for Science and Society (CROSS) was selected
as this new organization. The CROSS also received funds from MEXT.
The majority of the funding is to employ personnel. About 30
new scientists were hired.
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2. [Accelerator Division] by Kazuo HASEGAWA
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STATUS OF ACCELERATOR FACILITIES
The run cycle of Run#38 began on March 2, and beam delivery to
neutrino users and to MLF (Materials and Life Science Experimental
Facility) users at 220kW started on March 4 and March 7, respectively.
The MR (50-GeV Synchrotron) RF (Radio Frequency) cavity, which
stopped running in the previous run, was restored, and the beam
tuning made it possible to deliver 145kW beam to the neutrino users.
In the morning on March 11, the beam operation of the
RCS (3-GeV Rapid Cycling Synchrotron) and the MR was stopped
for the radiation survey in the accelerator tunnels as scheduled.
Meanwhile the beam study had been carried out in the linac.
The earthquake occurred when the beam was stopped temporarily
to shift to the beam destination from the linac to the RCS.
The beam was stopped as it was and also high-power equipment stopped.
The flood of about 10cm was found from the floor level by
the water leak of underground water in the linac tunnel on March 24.
The urgent procurement of a diesel engine power generator and
wiring work of a temporary housing enabled the pumping work to avoid
further damage.
The power obtained from the power station became possible in the
linac, and checking work for the soundness of the equipment has been
performed. It turned out that many current monitors and beam position
monitors in the tunnel were damaged and the vacuum was not able to be
kept. The procurement of replacements for the damaged devices started
immediately. The restoration schedule of some conventional items
becomes an issue such as damage of cables in the power electrical
system, water leak in the tunnel, and unavailability of cranes and
air-conditioning system, etc.
The subsidence of the outdoor yard and the surrounding road
is extensive at the RCS. The confirmation of the vacuum system
etc. has been carried out by securing the lighting with a diesel
engine power generator for a while. Abnormalities that may lead to
big problems have not been found so far. It is necessary to use
heavy machines to check the soundness of the equipment in the
yard. To perform this, confirmation of safety is paramount because
there are many hollows under the base of the equipment. As a first
step, the restoration of the surrounding road was started on May 11.
In the MR, water leaks in some places in the accelerator
tunnel was observed, and a big water leak was stopped by the
emergency repair. The ventilation system and the cooling water
system have been restored. The level of the recovery is the most
advanced compared with the linac and the RCS. Checks such as the power
supply, diagnostics, and the vacuum equipment are also advanced,
and no abnormality that may become a great stumbling block has been
found as of now.
To evaluate the displacement of the equipment and building
by the earthquake, and to assess the impact of aftershocks
that occur intermittently, the GPS (Global Positioning System)
and the regular survey work has been underway.
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3. [Nuclear and Particle Physics Division]
by A. TOYODA, J. IMAZATO and T. TSUKAMOTO
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FIGHTING FOR RECOVERY OF HADRON FACILITY
(by A. TOYODA & J. IMAZATO )
Following the massive earthquake on March 11, a 4 m high tsunami
hit the coast and Shinkawa river around the hadron hall. Fortunately,
the tsunami stopped very near to the site boundary, so there is no
damage to the hall by the tsunami. A few dozen personnel in the hall
quickly evacuated and safely returned to Tsukuba or their university
site.
Systematic efforts to survey the property damage were started on
March 17. One of them is a big depression (1 - 1.5 m) of the ground
level around the hall. This caused damage of cables and piping.
The other is damage of a transverse beam on the east wall surface.
It is confirmed that the mechanical strength of the structure is of
no concern. It is fortunate that there was no severe damage on large
experimental apparatus such as SKS, the beamline shield and dump did
not collapse, and magnets did not fall.
Electricity for lights and outlets was restored on March 25, the
drying machine for CsI crystals of KL group was restarted. On
April 3, water and sewage systems were restored. On April 6, the
overhead crane system and electricity for experiments came back, and
beamline vacuum pumps were restarted. Before Golden Week
(29 Apr - 5 May), a 40t truck trailer became possible to go into the
hall by the restoration of hall driveway. The hadron hall is steadily
recovering despite the worst earthquake. Morale of staff is so high
that we are convinced to start a hadron experiment in the near future.
STATUS OF NEUTRINO FACILITY
(by T. TSUKAMOTO)
The gigantic earthquake which hit the pacific coast of
east-Japan at 14:56 on March 11th damaged the neutrino experiment
facility, but quite fortunately, there were no humans hurt
including visiting researchers. Investigation of damages in the
neutrino experiment facility is in progress.
There were significant damages on the ground surrounding the
buildings as shown on page 21 and page 22 of
http://j-parc.jp/picture/2011/03/StatusEnglish0328.pdf
for TS(Target Station) and the beam dump respectively.
Some of the equipment located on the ground level also suffered
significant damage. On the other hand, instruments installed
underground such as magnets in the beamline tunnel or in the
neutrino detector pit show no serious damage so far at the visual
inspection level. After the earthquake hit, we observe 3.5mm
subsidence at the downstream part of the tunnel, which shall require
re-alignment of the magnets.
Checks of equipment with test operation will start soon, to be
follow by the repair work to realize the earliest-possible restart
of the experiment.
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4. [Materials and Life Science Division] by Masatoshi ARAI
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MLF BUILDING LOOKS LIKE STANDING AGAINST A SEVERE EARTHQUAKE, BUT.....
1. Neutron Source
The MLF (Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility)
building itself withstood the enormous quake and suffered less damage.
The damage to the remote handling systems and the coolant facilities
in the building were limited and most of their components looked sound.
One of the major damages in the neutron source components was a vacuum
break of aluminum neutron beam ducts of neutron beam shutter blocks.
Many bolts for the duct flanges in more than half of the ducts were
loosened because of an impact effect associated by a shutter movement
and hitting the surrounding wall. The target trolley with 300 tons was
moved back by strong vibration in the downstream of the proton beam
line. The bellows seal mechanics of the mercury target that must be in
contact with the helium vessel to protect a helium gas leakage was
elongated because of the draw back. A new target container will be
installed before resuming operation.
The ground surrounding the main building subsided severely,
which broke the outside facilities. The underground plumbing was
also broken and the water supply has been turned off. A liquid
nitrogen storage tank and a helium buffer tank for the cryogenic
hydrogen system, both of which are 2.5 m in diameter and 10 m in
height, were somewhat leaned and associated pipes were bent due to the
subsidence.
The damages in the tunnel of the proton beam transport line
concentrate at the most downstream part connecting to the MLF
building. It was found that the tunnel had unevenly settled and had
been bent toward the ocean slightly. The magnets and the beam
monitors have to be realigned.
DAMAGE EVALUATION OF NEUTRON BEAMLINE AND INSTRUMENTS IS ONGOING
2. Neutron Instruments
Damage evaluation of the neutron beamline and instruments is
ongoing, and damages observed up to now are as follows. MLF has three
external buildings for long-beamline instruments, and there are serious
subsidence and cracks in those buildings. The west external building
where an engineering diffractometer Takumi (BL19) and a beamstop of a
powder diffractometer iMATERIA (BL20) are located showed subsidence by
14 cm. A new single crystal diffractometer SENJU (BL18) was being
constructed in the building. The east 50 m building for a high
resolution powder diffractometer SuperHRPD showed subsidence by 9 cm
and displacement to the north by 3 cm. The new east building for BL09
also showed subsidence and tilted by 1/400. Because of the subsidence
of external buildings, part of the supermirror guide tubes and
shielding were broken at the boundaries between buildings.
The earthquake caused movement and lean of many of shielding
blocks, especially pre-shields surrounding the target station. The
strength of the shielding anchor/tie was designed for Scale 5 and
this was proved to be not strong enough for the gigantic quake.
After reinforcement in the tie strength, the shielding will be
re-installed by Summer.
Nine of the 3 m long He3 position sensitive detectors (PSD's)
showed breaking of wire. They were under 2kV during the shake.
Fortunately, most long PSD's were not under HV and they were all OK.
Short PSD's, scintillators, Ge detectors, etc. were not damaged.
Many disc choppers seem to be OK. No additional damage was seen up
to now in supermirror guide tubes in any beamlines except BL19 and
BL08. Damage evaluation of T0 choppers and large vacuum pumps is not
yet fully done because the cooling water system has not been recovered
yet.
DAMAGES OF MUSE WERE NOT TOO SERIOUS
3. Muon Science Facility (MUSE)
MUSE suffered several damages from the earthquake. Fortunately
those damages, as observed thus far, were not too serious.
We believe they can be fixed in a half year. The following are
damages over MUSE: 1) All the He ducts, control cables, power cables,
and compressed air for the on-line refrigerator system for the
superconducting magnet were damaged, due to a subsidence of about
10 cm to 1.5 m outside the MLF building. Also a buffer tank for the
He gas was tilted by 2-3 degrees. 2) Air circulation systems for the
proton beam tunnels in the vicinity of the muon target were damaged.
In particular, it was found that water pipes and control cables must
be removed and rebuilt, since the wall where they have been fixed
was about to fall down. It is located at an expansion joint between
MLF and the proton beam transport line from 3-GeV RCS (3NBT).
3) A lot of anchors for concrete shielding blocks were damaged by
the strong quakes. Also, some concrete shielding blocks have cracks.
4) An air-sealing hatch to prevent flow of activated air between the
primary proton beam tunnel (M2 tunnel) and the MLF experimental hall
was damaged seriously. 5) A cable rack in the M2 tunnel was hit by
the heavy concrete blocks and was damaged.
Meanwhile, on 16-20 May 2011, the International Conference on
Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance (muSR2011) will be held
in Mexico, and many experimental results which were obtained at MUSE
will be reported. In the night session of the second day, a
"TRIUMF-J-PARC meeting" is planned. In this meeting, we will
discuss a possible collaboration between J-PARC and TRIUMF for,
especially, construction of the Ultra Slow muon, U-line, experimental
equipment and scientific programs.
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5. [Safety Division] by Taichi MIURA and Hiroshi NAKASHIMA
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THE INSPECTION WAS POSTPONED
The state of radiation monitor system is being inspected.
The inspection of the MLF scheduled on March 14 by the
Nuclear Safety Technology Center (NUSTEC) was postponed for the
Gigantic Earthquake on Mar 11.
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6. [Editorial Note]
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Editorial Board:
Toshifumi TSUKAMOTO (Chair): toshifumi.tsukamoto@kek.jp
Fujio MAEKAWA: maekawa.fujio@jaea.go.jp
Takashi ITO: itou.takashi@jaea.go.jp
Dick MISCHKE (English Editor): mischke@triumf.ca
Chikako KAIBARA (Secretary): kaibara.chikako@jaea.go.jp
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