LANSCE-R project

A reader sent the following email about the LANSCE-R project cancellation on Friday.

Subject: Administration press release on LANSCE-R
Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 19:24:52 -0600
From: Kurt Schoenberg
To: ta53@lanl.gov
CC: seestrom@lanl.gov



Colleagues -

By now you have heard or read the Administrations proposal, released today, to cancel the LANSCE-R project. The justification connected with this proposal is egregiously wrong. (For example, the statement "the Department of Energy Nuclear Energy program has recently stopped using LANSCE to produce medical isotopes. ", while technically correct, is very misleading because this important LANSCE function was transferred this year to the Office of Science! )

Rest assured that our Laboratory senior management strongly support LANSCE and the LANSCE-R project and are working hard to fix this problem and set the record straight. LANSCE is the Laboratory's signature experimental facility with research capabilities vital to the Laboratory and the Nation. LANSCE has achieved this importance and success due to your hard work. As we prepare for beam turn-on and the resumption of our user program, let us continue to demonstrate the skill and dedication that has led to our past accomplishments and that will lead to our successful future.

Kurt
--
Kurt Schoenberg
Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE)

In 2005, LANSCE began operating a facility that uses 100-MeV protons to produce medical radioisotopes. I had heard of the medical isotope program during the supply disruption about a year ago, but not the LANSCE-R project. Here's what I found from the proceedings of the 2007 Particle Accelerator Conference.

At the core of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) accelerator lies an 800-MeV proton linac that drives user facilities for isotope production, proton radiography, ultra-cold neutrons, weapons neutron research and for various sciences using neutron scattering. LANSCE is in the planning phase of a refurbishment project that will sustain reliable facility operations well into the next decade.

The general goals for LANSCE-R are to (1) preserve dependable operation of the linac and (2) increase the cost effectiveness of operations. Requirements can be met for overall beam intensity, availability, and reliability with long-term sustainability and minimal disruption to scheduled user programs.

The baseline refurbishment project consists of replacing the 201 MHz RF systems, upgrading a substantial fraction of the 805 MHz RF systems, updating the control system, and replacing or improving a variety of diagnostics and accelerator subsystems.

To read more about LANSCE visit http://lansce.lanl.gov/.