We have a report from a reader of more problems at DARHT. What's the rest of the story?"2nd axis of DARHT is down. Plenty of finger pointing. LANS will not be able to deliver on the first dual axis shot until next calendar year, well past the deadline. LLNL may come to provide oversight."
17 comments:
Oh yes, just what we need - LLNL oversight. They did a good job on NIF, right?
Last I heard, the beam went out of alignment, hit the target, and blew contaminants back up the accelerator. At first, they thought they'd have to clean all 60+ cells. Now, it looks like only a fourth of those need cleaning. Estimates are a few weeks to do this. As such, may not impact the hydro schedule. Certainly not down "until next year".
Unless it happens again. I doubt the Livermites want to share the blame for a repeat.
DAHRT has had a lot of "declarations of succss" followed by embarrassments.
Whoppie!
Another high-priced recovery effort will be required.
This will result in the following:
declaration of success
promotions for the managers
increased bonusses for Mikey and
his pals.
I'll bet someone gets a "Distiguished Performance Award" for this. Just like Mike B. did when he delivered Axis 1 and it took another $30M to make it work.
You know you can't make stuff up that is as unbelievable as what is happening at LANL.
I tried to tell about the rotten power supply designs and the instabilities! But, oh no...don't want to hear about that!
So far, 7 posts, not a single fact. About par for the course for this rag.
Here are some facts for you, 10:30 PM.
DARHT is a classic example of LANL mismanagement, compounded by DOE oversight, compounded with LLNL help, compounded with political BS. You get the idea. I wonder when it will join ATLAS? Good luck, guys, you are going to need it.
Looks like the 2nd axis of DAHRT may need to be fixed yet again, thus generating lots of new awards and kudos for all the managers involved with this new DAHRT rescue effort.
After awhile you learn how things really work at LANL and become completely desensitized to the insanity of LANL upper management.
It's too bad St. Pete won't be around to dish out another $100 million or so to see LANL through these mistakes. I guess we'll have to pay for the fixes with another round of belt tightening for the working staff.
accelerator configured incorrectly and was pulsed. The misconfiguration was not detected (massive voltage breakdowns occured throughout the entire accelerator) until the accelerator was pulsed again. The extend of repair required can't be known until the cells are taken apart. could be cleaning, could be more. would not expect full accelerator(operating at specification)until december.
Have to agree with most of what 8/3/08 3:34 AM poster had to say , good luck is in order
To 10:30, You want a few facts: DAHRT is one of the most over-priced, under- productive most mis-managed, least productive project in LANL's history. Then there's the actual budget nightmare, along with the safety and enviromental problems it has created. You, Sir must be ass deep in this boon-doggle, are you really tring to defend this mess? If so let us know some of your facts....
RE: So far, 7 posts, not a single fact. About par for the course for this rag.
8/2/08 10:30 PM
Are you disputing the fact that Mike Burns got a "Distinguished Service Award" for Axis I? Check the archived News Bulletins. Check the financial records you will see that $30M of operating dollars was spent over a 4 year period on "improvement" to Axis I, while they were using capital $ on Axis II. And when they finished Axis II they spent a montain of operating $ fixing it. Sound familiar?
accelerator configured incorrectly and was pulsed. The misconfiguration was not detected (massive voltage breakdowns occured throughout the entire accelerator) until the accelerator was pulsed again.
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Sounds like operator error to me.
In the aeronautics industry, they call
this CFT - Controlled Flight into Terrain
Anonymous at 8/3/08 2:16 PM wrote:
"Sounds like operator error to me."
BULLSHIT! Modern accelerators have engineered controls to avoid things like mis-steering of the beam. Those controls typically sense the beam centoid and when it starts getting away from where it should be, a shutdown occurs.
This kind of accident is virtually unknown in the field of accelerator technology!
BOTTOM LINE: They crapped up the design!
More of same. Somethings never change. UC is LANS, LANS is UC.
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