Present: B. Blank, K. Blaum, Y. Blumenfeld, R. Catherall, J. Cederkall, U. Datta Pramanik,
K. Flanagan (replacing D. Jenkins), L. Fraile, M.J. Garcia-Borge, M. Henry, M. Huyse (replacing P. Van Duppen),  Y. Kadi, N. Marginean, K. Riisager, D. Santonocito, L. Schweikhard, S. Siem

Excused: P. Greenlees, M. Kowalska, R. Losito

Absent: S. Harissopulos

Invited: M. Stachura (P.T.), W. Venturini Delsolaro (P.T.)

The meeting starts at 10:30 h

1. Introductory remarks by the chairperson

The chairperson opens the meeting and welcomes the committee. The above mentioned members of the committee are excused.

2. Approval of the minutes of the 66th meeting.

The minutes of the 66th ISCC meeting are accepted without any alterations.

3. News from the ISOLDE Group (M.J.G. Borge)(see presentation)

M.J.G. Borge begins by summarising the present manpower situation in the ISOLDE Physics Group.

• Associate: Marek Pfützner (until June 2013), Alfredo Poves (January to June 2014)
• CAS: Olof Tengblad (July to December 2013)
• Fellows: Susanne Kreim (until December 2013 plus 1 year co-funded), Elisa Rapisarda (until September 2014), Monika Stachura (April 2013 to March 2015), Jan Kurcewicz (until November 2013). The next application deadline for fellows is 3rd September 2013 and ISOLDE hopes to be able to defend a fellow candidate at this selection round.
• Doctoral Student: Kara Lynch (until August 2013). Applications for a new doctoral student position to work on the fixed decay station should be submitted before 12^th August 2013.
• Technical student: Rikard Vinge (until July 2013)
• Technician: Julien Thiboud (until August 2014)
• User Support: Jenny Weterings

The committee is told that the “Statistical Methods for Nuclear Physics” course given by K. Riisager at ISOLDE in March 2013 was a great success with more than 25 participants. The following courses and workshops are scheduled to take place during the remainder of 2013:

• Physics Courses for CERN Summer Students: 3 lectures 17-19 July (M. Kowalska)
• ISOLDE Nuclear Physics Summer Lecture Series: 3 lectures 23-25 July (R. Casten)
• ASPIC Workshop: 6^th September
• Shell Model for non-Practitioners: 14-18 October (F. Nowacki et al.)
• ISOLDE Workshop and Users meeting: 25-27 November
• HIE-ISOLDE Technical Workshop: 28-29 November

The ISOLDE collaboration signed a MoU in 2006 agreeing to pay a yearly contribution of 3kEuros towards the European Summer Schools on Exotic Beams. This MoU was valid until 2009 with an automatic continuation on a bi-annual basis if none of the parties wishes to alter any of the terms. The committee decides that the ISOLDE collaboration should continue to contribute 3kEuros a year to the European Summer School on Exotic Beams. After discussion it is concluded that, from 2014 onwards, the collaboration should only pay 3kCHF towards the Ecole Joliot-Curie if its subject is related to ISOLDE physics.

M.J.G. Borge summarises the status of the ENSAR project which runs from 1^st September 2010 to 31^st August 2014. ISOLDE TNA expenditure is presented as well as the TNA budgets of the other ENSAR institutes reported at the ENSAR PCC meeting held in Warsaw in June 2013. The committee is told that discussions about the prolongation of the ENSAR project, within which ISOLDE has applied for additional TNA funding, are on-going due to the later than anticipated start of FP8, Horizon 2020. A decision should be taken in October 2013.

M.J.G. Borge reports to the committee about the discussions that took place regarding the ENSAR2 proposal at the Town Meeting in Warsaw in June. After a call made in April, 14 proposals for NAs and 27 for JRAs were received. Due to this large number of proposals some will have to be merged or rejected. A meeting will be held in Padova 17-18^th October to allow for further discussion and decisions.

The committee is informed about the number of publications and theses that have been published over the last three years and resulting from work carried out at ISOLDE. Committee members are asked to remind their colleagues to send Jenny the reference of any ISOLDE related publication and a copy of any thesis based on data from ISOLDE or at least the year, the author’s name, the title and the University where the thesis was defended.

M.J. G. Borge tells the committee that the new ISOLDE website is now on-line. CERN is pushing for all experiments to use the same format for their websites and ISOLDE is one of the first to go on-line with a website that follows the new CERN standards.

The committee is informed that the ISOLDE Newsletter 2013 containing 26 contributions was published in May and that ISOLDE was the subject of 2 articles and an interview in PH-department newsletters which are now on-line http://ph-news.web.cern.ch/ . There have also been two ISOLDE based “Hangout with CERN” on-line sessions http://hangouts.web.cern.ch/ entitled “Going pear-shaped” and “The dream of the alchemists”.

M.J.G. Borge then goes on to summarise the status of the collaboration income and expenditure and informs the committee that the contributions for 2012 have been received from all member states except for Greece. Also CERN, Germany, Italy, Norway and Sweden have already paid their contribution for 2013. CERN is currently in a general negotiation with Greece concerning their non-payment of fees to several experiments. It was recommended by CERN that ISOLDE not take any separate action before these negotiations are concluded.

Finally the committee is told that CERN has agreed to loan the ISOLDE Collaboration 700kCHF to allow completion of Phase 1 of the HIE-ISOLDE project. A loan contract has been signed by M.J.G. Borge and Y. Blumenfeld on behalf of the collaboration which states that the loan should be repaid between 2016 and 2020.

4. ISOLDE Physics Coordinator Position (M.J.G. Borge)

The committee agrees in principle to the extension of the present Physics Coordinator’s contract past August 2014 but states that the length of the extension would be determined by the committee in order to avoid the changes of coordinator and group leader coinciding. The discussion about the next ISOLDE Physics Coordinator is postponed until the meeting on the 22^nd of October 2013.

5. INTC Matters (K. Blaum)

K. Blaum informed the committee that at the last CERN Scientific Policy Committee (SPC) the CERN medium term plan (MTP2013) was approved and that he had reported to the SPC on recent activities at ISOLDE. This report had been extremely well received. At the SPC meeting in October new members will be voted onto the committee including one from the field of nuclear physics as a replacement for J. Äysto.

The committee is told that at the INTC meeting in June there were 16 proposals, 2 letters of clarification and 2 nTOF status reports. The standard of the presentations was very high, with those given by young scientists being outstanding. Out of the 330 shifts requested 183 were approved.

K. Blaum reminds the committee that the call for the INTC meeting in October will be open to all ISOLDE and HIE-ISOLDE proposals but in February 2014 the INTC will only examine status reports of low energy experiments. No new proposals will be accepted for the February meeting.

6. ASPIC Set-up (M. Stachura)(see presentation)

M. Stachura presents the dedicated plan proposed by the new VITO (Versatile Ion-polarized Techniques On-line at ISOLDE) collaboration to ”Establish a dedicated beamline for laser-induced nuclear orientation, which will open a wide range of possibilities for carrying out versatile and multidisciplinary experiments at ISOLDE”. The plan incorporates the present ASPIC set-up that has not been used since 2006 but, as it is partly maintained, could be ready for off-line experiments in 2013 and the βNMR setup from the tilted foil assembly. Advantages of this plan include:

• Plan involves upgrade of an existing setup: The ultra-high vacuum beamline (RBO) already exists and would only require a minimum shift. Discussions have taken place with representatives of experiments that would surround the setup to investigate the possible effect it could have on these experiments and the effects they might have on the ASPIC/βNMR setup.
• Budget: First experiments could take place with a starting budget of 80kCHF. A number of grants will be applied for in the coming months.
• Wide range of experiments possible: There is no comparable beamline any where else in the world. The new VITO Collaboration has members from ISOLDE, Solid State Physics, Nuclear Physics and Biophysics and the letter of intent that was submitted to the INTC contained 7 differents proposals that will be submitted as soon as the new setup is approved. Totally new areas of Biophysics could be opened up if the plan goes ahead. The first meeting of the VITO Collaboration will take place at CERN on 6th September 2013.
• Three end stations: As well as the ASPIC and βNMR setups there would be an open end station available for travelling experiments.

On behalf of the VITO collaboration M. Stachura requests permission from the committee to re-locate the space already occupied by ASPIC, i.e. to adjust the angle of the beamline, and for support from the ISOLDE Physics group for alignment of the beamline. A small amount of financial support for the collaboration meeting is also requested. A discussion follows about possible access problems and effects on surrounding experiments that could arise from the movement of the beamline and the ASPIC/βNMR setup. Any movement of the beamline must be approved by the CERN RP department (Since the ISCC meeting a technical and safety review has been set up by R. Catherall to assure that all aspects of the proposal to move the beamline at RBO have been identified and addressed). The committee states that it is extremely positive towards the physics proposal, especially the new areas of physics that it could open up, but that other possible locations of the setup should first be investigated always in close discussion with persons responsible for surrounding experiments with regard to space, radiation and magnetic field. The outcome of this investigation and the VITO collaboration meeting should be clarified to the ISCC.

The transfer of ownership of the ASPIC set-up to the ISOLDE Collaboration, as mentioned in the minutes of the June 23rd 2010 meeting of the ISCC, was never officially realised. Recently the University of Saarlandes has shown an interest in the ASPIC set-up and, because the ISOLDE collaboration favours ownership by a group rather than the collaboration, discussion between the Helmholtz Institute Berlin and Saalandes has been coordinated by the ISOLDE in-house group to favour the transfer of the equipment. Official notification has now been received that ownership of ASPIC has been transferred from the Helmholtz Institute in Berlin to the University of Saarlandes (see attached PDF file).

7. News from HIE-ISOLDE (Y. Kadi)(see presentation)

Walter Venturini Delsolaro (BE/RF) is introduced to the committee as the new HIE-ISOLDE Deputy Project Leader; the Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) coordinator is still to be nominated.

Y. Kadi then begins his presentation by summarizing the status of the HIE-ISOLDE Quality Assurance Plan, documentation and safety file. Good progress is being made in all these areas.

A summary of the request for funding from CERN to cover additional costs of material, Personnel and R&D that was approved in the MTP2013 by the SPC in June is presented to the committee. The CERN cost of the project to completion in 2013 is 38.7MCHF. The income and expenditure of the external funding received for Phase 1 of the HIE-ISOLDE project is shown; the total expenditure will be 8.95 MCHF and the shortfall of 0.7MCHF will be covered by the loan from CERN.

Y. Kadi then goes on to summarise the status of procurement for the project with completion of the cryomodules being the most critical to the project and informs the committee that high-beta cavities, SC solenoids and beam instrumentation for Phase 2 of HIE-ISOLDE (with a cost of approximately 1MCHF) have already been ordered as this allowed lower unit prices to be negotiated.

The committee then hears briefly about recent technical advances and the results from cavity tests, including the cavity tested in Orsay, are presented. The most recent SC units have now surpassed HIE-ISOLDE specifications. Y. Kadi also explains how the collapse of the test cryostat in SM18 was resolved in less than 2 weeks and he congratulates everyone involved. The required redesign of certain mechanical parts of the Diagnostic Box is mentioned briefly. The additional resources needed to develop the control electronics for the boxes as well as for the mechanical design is under review within the BE/BI group. Y. Kadi explains that coordination with ISOLDE experiments will have to be increased in order to ensure that installation, e.g. of shielding blocks and cables, and integration runs smoothly.

The project schedule is then presented and the committee is told that project is still expected to be completed as presently scheduled. The strategic decision to refurbish the ALEPH cryo-plant will bring a delay of about 6 months but this has been integrated into the schedule. The re-deployment and allocation of extra resources for the cryo-module, refurbishment of the cryo-plant and electronics for the Beam Diagnostic Box have been approved but the requested resources for beam instrumentation have not yet been made available.

Y. Kadi informs the committee that the operation budget has been prepared and submitted for approval and then concludes by announcing the following HIE-ISOLDE reviews:

• Cost and Schedule combined with Risk Assessment Review: early November 2013
• Safety Review: early November 2013
• HIE-ISOLDE Technical Workshop: 28-29 November 2013
   

8. HIE-ISOLDE Phase 2: Discussion (Y. Blumenfeld) (see presentation)
Y. Blumenfeld very briefly presents the technical aims, funding situation and planned start-up dates of the three phases of the HIE-ISOLDE project. The following points are then clarified:

• CERN Council has approved the HIE-ISOLDE project up to 10MeV/n, i.e. Phase 2.
• The solenoidal (“HELIOS” type) spectrometer will not come to ISOLDE before 2017.
• The Infrastructure for Phase 3 will be in place after Phase 2 but the cryoplant would have to be redesigned.
• The 0.7MCHF from the Belgian Big Science project should be used for research and developement to reach 10MeV/n.

A discussion follows about the approach of the collaboration towards Phase2 of the HIE-ISOLDE project. The committee states that the collaboration has done everything possible to find external funding and, while the original smaller budget of the project was split equally between CERN and the collaboration, a large amount of money was spent by the collaboration on infrastructure and missing personnel at the beginning of the project. The committee is very concerned that if Phase 2 does not go ahead due to financial reasons physics at ISOLDE will be restricted and all funding that has already been requested and received by users from a number of countries requiring 10MeV/n would be lost. The Collaboration agrees that CERN management should be approached about the missing funding. M.J.G. Borge, K. Blaum and Y. Blumenfeld will set up an appointment to discuss the matter with S. Bertolucci in September.

9. Status of activities for LS1 and the HIE Design Study (R. Catherall)( see presentation)

R. Catherall begins by summarizing the status of work in the ISOLDE hall. The wall is now cut and removed while the cutting of the trench is still in progress. Metallic support structures for the second floor of building 199 are now in place and sections of the cooling and ventilation system known as chillers have been put on the roof. Sound-proofing doors have been installed at the compressor building 198 and the construction of building 508 should be completed by the end of October 2013.

The committee then hears about activities taking place in the Target Area including the installation of shielding and the robot upgrade. Many failure scenarios of the new robots, such as motor failure and obstacles on the rails, are now being addressed on a test bench in building 927. The contract for the new Alpha Gamma Hot Cell was awarded to Isotope Technologies Dresden in March 2013; the final design will be presented in July 2013 and installation should take place in March 2014.

R. Catherall then presents the work currently underway on the ISOLDE machine including the re-alignment and re-wiring of the RFQ Cooler, the development of the Helicon source and the testing of the Neutron converter. The committee is told that a simplified laser system has been installed at the off-line ISOLDE mass separator which is capable to produce Ga ion beams for testing RILIS cavities. Work on the RILIS room extension that is required for safety reasons is planned for July (since the meeting it has been confirmed that this work will take place at the end of September) and testing of the RILIS machine protection which will allow RILIS to be monitored remotely is underway.

The committee is informed that a favorable internal safety review of the MEDICIS project took place at the end of June and that the ground work for the project’s new buildings will start in July. A short discussion follows about the effect that the running of the MEDICIS facility could have on ISOLDE. The committee states that while MEDICIS is a very exciting project it must not affect manpower dedicated to the ISOLDE facility and priority in the beam schedule should always be to ISOLDE.

R. Catherall goes on to describe the declassification and refurbishment of the Class C laboratory which will now be used for the off-line separator, a laser laboratory and a chemical laboratory. The on-going modifications of the ground floor laboratory in building 3 are also presented. The committee is then shown the work being carried out to try to understand the consequences of a water leak in a hot target. It has been found that the thermal shock breaks the container; the water reacts with Tantulum (the container and target material) to produce H_2, in proportion to the reaction exchange surface, which increases the pressure. Following these tests the objective will be to remove the water circuit from the target.

Finally R. Catherall summarises the progress made on the HIE-ISOLDE Design Study and mentions the concerns about the beam dump after radiation level tests were carried out on soil samples. Work is on-going to solve the problem and a response from RP has been requested on their position concerning the soil activation. The committee is told that while some parts of the Design Study, such as the RFQ Cooler and the REX-EBIS Electron Gun, will actually be constructed within the study, others will only be designed and costed. A risk assessment of associated issues will be included in the Design Study report.

10. Status of the Buildings 115, 601 and 507 (M.J.G. Borge)(see presentation)

M.J.G. Borge summarises the status of the work to remove buildings 115, 601 and 507 to allow for the construction of the new building 508. During the building work access to the ISOLDE hall will be via the old existing staircase which has been cleared and a card reader has been installed on the ISOLDE hall door.

The plans for building 508 are presented to the committee. The whole 450m² of the bottom floor will be made from concrete suitable for supporting lasers and will be classified as a C class laboratory. The top floor will only cover 250m2 of the building closest to the ISOLDE hall but will contain a corridor allowing for the construction of a top floor over the rest of the building at a later date. The internal distribution of space in building 508 is presented as well as the current planning of construction work.

The committee congratulates M.J.G. Borge on the progress made on this project over recent months. A discussion follows about the internal distribution of office space in building 508 to experiments in particular for permanent experiments. It is agreed that the construction of a top floor on the second half of the building would provide the extra office space requested as well as more storage space.

12. A.O.B

• R. Catherall tells the committee of a request from a research group in Korea to send a number of physicists to ISOLDE for training with regard to target and ion sources. The committee agrees to this request on the condition that a formal agreement is signed, that the people involved already have a PhD and that the training period at ISOLDE is for a minimum of one year.
   
• The next ISCC meeting will be held on Tuesday October 22nd at 13:30. Please plan your travel so as not to have to leave before 19:00.

The meeting ends at 17:30.

N.B. The overheads mentioned in the above minutes can be found via https://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=254090.