Accelerator Update - May 28-May 30

Wednesday May 28
The day shift began with the accelerator complex in shutdown while ComEd replaced a high voltage power pole, and with Operations monitoring systems.

At 3:15 PM, ComEd reported finding more concrete holding the old power pole in the ground than they had expected. Their crew will keep working until midnight or until they finally break through the concrete.

During the day and evening shift the safety group performed tests on the safety system.

Thursday May 29
The midnight shift began with safety system tests continuing, and with Operations monitoring systems.

The ComEd crew finished breaking out the concrete around 1 AM. The pole replacement will begin in the morning.

At 10:51 AM, Pbar experts reported that they had installed the new Lithium Lens. Unfortunately, power supply problems held up their pulse test.

At 5:35 PM, cryo technicians found and repaired a Tevatron (TeV) helium leak at sector B1.

During the day and evening shifts operators interlocked areas where work had been completed.

Pbar experts successfully tested their Lithium Lens during the evening shift.

Friday May 30
The midnight shift began with the TeV cryo system cooldown in progress. Operators had interlocked all areas except for the Collider Detector Facility (CDF) and D-zero (D0) collision halls during the previous shifts.

At 5 AM, safety system techs began checking the TeV safety system.

The scheduled site wide power outage occurred at 7 AM as planned. High voltage experts switched site power from the Kautz Road substation back to the Master Substation. The power returned twelve minutes later.

At 7:45 AM, an unscheduled power outage occurred. Fermi high voltage experts switched us back to the Kautz Road substation. Power returned about twenty-five minutes later.

Today's Plan
There is a switch problem between the ComEd lines and our Master Substation. Our schedule will depend on how quickly this switch can be repaired. As soon as it has been repaired, we must schedule one more outage to switch site power back to the Master Substation. Fermilab will resume High Energy Physics as soon a possible.

More Information
For Tevatron luminosity charts and the current status of Fermilab's accelerators and detectors (live!), please go to Fermilab Now

Comments and Suggestions
What do you think about the Accelerator Updates? Please send comments and suggestions to: accelupdates@fnal.gov.