Present: K. Blaum, Y. Blumenfeld, P. Butler, R. Catherall, J. Cederkall, K. Flanagan(representing J. Billowes), L. Fraile, S. Franchoo, S. Harissopulos, M. Henry, A. Jokinen, Y. Kadi, R. Losito(P.T.), M. Kowalska, N. Marginean, K. Riisager, D. Santonocito, S. Siem, P. Van Duppen

Excused: J. Billowes, M.J. Garcia-Borge

The meeting starts at 08:30 h

1. Introductory remarks by the chairperson

The acting chairperson, Y. Blumenfeld, opens the meeting and announces that M.J. Garcia-Borge will not be attending the meeting due to a conflict of interests with point 3. Y. Blumenfeld informs the committee that J. Billowes is excused from the meeting and that he is replaced by K. Flanagan.

2. Approval of the minutes of the 60th meeting.

The minutes of the 60th ISCC meeting are accepted without any alterations.

3. Choice of next Group Leader (discussion led by K. Blaum)

The term of the present ISOLDE Group Leader, Y. Blumenfeld, will finish at the end of July 2012, hence a new Group leader is required from the beginning of July 2012 since CERN has agreed to fund a one month overlap. A search committee consisting of K. Blaum, Y. Blumenfeld, P. Butler and S. Siem has been set up to facilitate the process of choosing a new group leader.

K. Blaum summarises what will be the priorities of the new group leader which include pushing forward with HIE-ISOLDE and EURISOL as well as improving the position of low energy nuclear physics at CERN and the visibility of ISOLDE in Europe. The six very strong applications for the position, details of which had been sent to the committee members prior to the meeting, are then presented by the members of the selection committee.

The committee discusses the applications and what the group leader will have to focus on during the long CERN shutdown in 2013.

The committee will propose Maria J.G. Borge to CERN management as next ISOLDE Group leader. A board will be held in January 2012.

4. Renewal of the ISOLDE MoU (Y. Blumenfeld)

Y. Blumenfeld informs the committee that he has been told by H. De Groot, the person responsible at CERN, that the ISOLDE MoU can be extended by the members of the ISCC with permission from their respective funding agencies. However, if certain countries require being able to sign the MoU, this can be arranged. The ISCC representatives from the ISOLDE member countries are asked to tell the committee what their funding agency requires to extend the ISOLDE MoU:

• Norway: Still to sign MoU so must sign on paper
• Germany: ISCC member can give approval
• Sweden: Signature on paper required
• UK: Signature on paper required
• Spain: Signature on paper required?
• Ireland: Still to sign MoU so must sign on paper
• Denmark: ISCC member can give approval
• Finland: ISCC member can give approval
• Belgium: ISCC member can give approval
• Greece: ISCC member can give approval
• Romania: Signature on paper required
• Italy: Information to be provided at later date
• France: ISCC member can give approval
• CERN: ISCC member can give approval

A discussion follows about the figure stated in annex 12 of the MoU for the average beam intensity delivery to the ISOLDE target. The committee decides that the intensity should, from now on, be recorded in order to document the reduction in intensity. The committee states its concern about the drop in average current delivered to ISOLDE over the last few years. The coordinator should produce firm numbers to document the number of protons effectively delivered and then the research board should be alerted to the situation.

5. Technical developments and BE & EN Department news (R. Catherall) (see overheads)

R. Catherall begins by summarising the ISOLDE machine start up 2011. He informs the committee that the Front End #7 was successfully installed and commissioned on time and thanks all the people involved in the project. Meanwhile Front End #6 has successfully under gone a number of corrective measures.

Recent target and ion source development is then summarised including the successful first on-line test of the Laser Ion Source and Trap (LIST) at ISOLDE. The progress made on the REX upgrade programme is then presented including the REXTRAP renovation and the gains that have been achieved.

After presenting the status of the RILIS upgrade, R. Catherall goes on to summarise several machine issues such as the GLM deflectors, the water cooling system and the RFQ cooler. He also tells the committee about the development of an RF amplifier for ISCOOL and goes on to explain the recovery operation put into place after the GPS robot was wrongly programmed by accident; the GPS was up and running again in 3 weeks instead of the 6 weeks originally expected so the impact on the ISOLDE physics schedule was minimised.

R. Catherall then turns to safety issues such as the ALARA interventions since the last ISCC meeting and the participation of ISOLDE in the ALARA up-date Working Group. He tells the committee that a specific safety training to access the ISOLDE primary area is under development and a primary area shielding assessment for ISOLDE and HIE-ISOLDE has been completed.

Finally the committee is informed that the possibility of reducing the next shutdown period with a start up in March 2012 is currently being investigated.

6. Scheduling and PH Department news (M. Kowalska / Y. Blumenfeld) (see overheads)

M. Kowalska begins by summarizing the beam requests and schedule for 2011. At the INTC meeting in February 2011 12 new experiments were approved with a total of 245 RIB shifts. The committee is told that there are 81 ISOLDE experiments active in 2011 compared with 63 in 2010 and the evolution of the shift back-log since 2008 is shown.

ISOLDE received its first protons this year on April 27^th and physics began on May 2^nd. Protons will stop on November 21^st giving 29 weeks of physics. Out of the 657.5 RIB shifts requested this year by 59 INTC experiments 440 have been scheduled for 48 of the experiments. RILIS has 233 online shifts scheduled, which is about 2100 hours of online and offline operation, and has a team of about 10 people to cover the shifts over the whole year.

M. Kowalska then presents the evolution of requested and scheduled shifts over the period 2008 to 2011. A discussion follows.

The committee is informed that 27 target units are planned for this year’s running period of which 11 are new UC units.

The problems encountered and solved due to the GPS robot accident are summarized; only one letter of intent had to be cancelled while two GPS runs were transferred to the HRS. The technical teams are thanked for setting up beams in reduced time and even outside normal working hours.

M. Kowalska goes on to summarise the physics of the first online runs at ISOLDE this year and then presents statistics of the time between an experiment being accepted and receiving beam. The average wait for beam is about 1 year. The status of certain experiments such as CRIS, ISOTRAP, WITCH and the Beta-NMR tilted foil setup is summarized. The committee is told that ASPIC is to be revived by a student from Korea assisted by A. Gottberg.

News from ISOLDE is presented including the fact that a new fellow (funded by ENSAR), who will study possible solutions for future data acquisition needs at ISOLDE, will consider systems at other facilities including GANIL and Orsay which have similar requirements. Finally safety issues are addressed.

Y. Blumenfeld informs the committee that the project leader for the first long CERN shutdown is Freddy Bordry. The injector shutdown will be from December 2012 until March 2014 which means a one year stop for ISOLDE physics. There is the possibility of off-line running for a few months after December 2012 but this will have to be officially requested and approved by management. The second long shutdown will be 2017-2018 when LINAC4 will be connected.

Other news from the ISOLDE Physics group is then summarized:

• The extension of building 115 is now fully funded.
• There are presently two PhD students at ISOLDE; H. Tornqvist until August 2012 and K. Lynch until 2014.
• The contracts of two of the three fellows at ISOLDE, J. Pakarinen and D. Yordanov will finish in December 2011 while T. Cocolios will be at ISOLDE until June 2012. Good candidates are encouraged to apply for fellowships as there is a possibility that two new fellows for ISOLDE could be hired in 2012.
• The ENSAR technician, J. Thiboud, will be available to assist experiments at ISOLDE from September 2011.
• The ENSAR fellow, J. Kurcewicz, will start at ISOLDE in December 2011.

7. INTC matters (P. Butler)

P. Butler tells the committee that the number of INTC meetings that will be held during

2012 is partly dependant on the number of experiments that still have shifts to be

scheduled before the long shutdown and that it has not yet been decided when the first call

should be for HIE-ISOLDE experiments to run in 2015.

A discussion follows about the ENRI meeting to be held in Corsica in September. This

meeting, to be held on an annual basis, is a milestone of the ENSAR contract, requested by

the EU, to ensure better coordination of experiments run at different nuclear physics

facilities throughout Europe. Y. Blumenfeld will represent CERN/ISOLDE at the meeting.

8. Status of HIE-ISOLDE (Y. Kadi)

Y. Kadi begins by summarizing the status of the present market surveys for HIE-ISOLDE. These include the Cryogenic system and the chilled water plant. The names and starting dates of the first 9 CATHI Fellows are presented to the committee and followed by the list of the remaining 10 CATHI Fellow positions for which the present deadline for applications is July 15^th 2011.

The status of the two funding sources (CERN and external) for the total material budget of 35.3 MCHF is summarized and then the HIE-ISOLDE schedule is presented. The committee is told that discussions are underway with IPN-Orsay and BARC (India) regarding collaboration within the HIE-ISOLDE project and the Korean application to join the ISOLDE Collaboration is now awaiting approval by the Korean Parliament.

Y. Kadi goes on to inform the committee that the cryomodule design is near completion and then summarises the status of the RF measurements for the present prototype cavities. After presenting the Q-E measurements for the prototype cavities he goes on to review the prospects for new RF measurements. With the actions taken the turnaround of the sputtering and testing has improved from 6 to 3.5 weeks.

Y. Kadi tells the committee that the report from the Cavity Review Board which held a meeting at CERN in June endorses the choice of sputtering for HIE-ISOLDE but concludes that the rhythm of testing is too slow. It suggests that cavities with lower mechanical tolerance are used for testing in order to speed things up.

9. Report from the HIE-ISOLDE Physics Coordination Group (Y. Blumenfeld)

A meeting of the HIE-ISOLDE Physics Coordination Group was held at CERN on May 6^th 2011 and Y. Blumenfeld presents a summary of the requirements received from the possible experimental set-ups at HIE-ISOLDE. He then goes on to show possible layouts at HIE-ISOLDE for both 2014 and 2016-18.

The outcome of the Spectrometer Workshop, held in Lund in March 2011, is then summarized. A document is to be produced by the end of 2011 and a second workshop will be held in Madrid in February/March 2012 to discuss this document and prepare a strategy. The workshop, however, did produce the conclusion that 2014 is too early for the spectrometer so the aim would be for the upgrade to 10MeV and installation in 2016.

Y. Blumenfeld concludes by summarising the specifications of the proposed PSB upgrade versus the new RCS (Rapid Cycling Synchrotron) which would take place during the second long CERN shutdown in 2017-18.

11. A.O.B

• The committee is informed that the plan to move the ISOLDE offices nearer the ISOLDE hall has been scrapped. However, after the removal of the solid state laboratory, there may be the possiblity of some office space in building 275 being available to users.
• N. Marginean informs the committee that he will be giving a presentation at the meeting of the European Committee for Future Accelerators which will thake place in Bucharest on July 15th. The ISCC agrees that it would be a good idea to mention that Romania is a member of the ISOLDE collaboration and that exciting work is being carried out at ISOLDE and will be, in the future, at HIE-ISOLDE.
• After a suggestion by P. Van Duppen the committee agrees that the new ISOLDE logo should be taken from the existing HIE-ISOLDE logo.
• P. Van Duppen informs the committee that files of the ISOLDE layout are being updated.
• Posters to be displayed in the ISOLDE hall should be sent to P. Van Duppen so that they can all be printed with the same format at CERN.
• The committee agrees to extend the term of M.J. Garcia-Borge as ISCC Chairperson until the meeting in February 2012.
• The next ISCC meeting will be held on Thursday November 3rd 2011 at 08:30.

The meeting ends at 13:25.