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SSPAFOA Meeting at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB)
October 18, 2010
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On September 15, 2010 the Superconducting Particle Accelerator Forum of the Americas (SPAFOA) held another in a series of members’ meetings, this time at Michigan State University (MSU). This meeting was at the invitation of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) project team. Meyer Tool & Mfg., Inc. attendees included Eileen Cunningham, President, and Ed Bonnema, Vice President. Ed is also a member of the SPAFOA board of directors.
At Meyer Tool our mission is to have a positive impact on the world by providing science and high technology companies with complex, high value added systems and components that advance human knowledge or well being and support America’s quest to remain a global leader. In fulfillment of that mission we try to learn, as early as possible, about projects such as FRIB and how we can assist in their construction. The meeting at MSU was a great opportunity to meet with key members of the FRIB project team and to learn specifics about technical requirements and schedule. |
SPAFOA Members tour NSCL Facility.
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The meeting was hosted at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at MSU. The completed FRIB project will be a Department of Energy National Users Facility. The project is budgeted at $614.5 million dollars of which DOE will fund approximately 85%. While MSU will receive funding and oversight from the DOE, ultimately they will have responsibility for the project. MSU is aggressively striving for an early completion of FRIB in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Ken Olsen, President of SPAFOA, kicked off the morning session, followed by presentations from representatives of the FRIB project management, technical and procurement teams. These presentations are posted on the SPAFOA website. The presentations were followed by a lunch in which SPAFOA members had a chance to speak with members of the FRIB project team. In the afternoon, the full group was split in two and taken on separate tours of the NSCL accelerator facility and shown prototype components for FRIB that MSU is presently fabricating in-house.
The FRIB facility will utilize a superconducting linear accelerator to produce intense beams of rare isotopes. According to the FRIB website, “FRIB will provide scientists critical information about the properties of these rare isotopes in order to better understand the origin of the elements and the evolution of the cosmos.” For more information on FRIB’s mission and technical features we suggest you visit FRIB’s website.
An important theme of MSU’s approach to the project will be to develop the “lowest cost configuration that meets technical requirements.” A prime example of this is MSU’s solution to the layout of the driver LINAC, folding it back upon its own path in a “paperclip” configuration. This configuration, while adding minor complexity to the LINAC, greatly reduces the total cost by significantly reducing the required civil construction. In order to achieve its cost goals, MSU plans to partner with industry to develop a vendor base that can support the project. Their intent is to base technical procurements on “Best Value” rather than lowest cost. At Meyer Tool, we were pleased to hear this will be MSU’s approach since providing the best overall value or the lowest total cost of ownership is how we help our customers Reduce Project
Ken Olsen, President of SPAFOA, kicked off the morning session, followed by presentations from representatives of the FRIB project management, technical and procurement teams. These presentations are posted on the SPAFOA website. The presentations were followed by a lunch in which SPAFOA members had a chance to speak with members of the FRIB project team. In the afternoon, the full group was split in two and taken on separate tours of the NSCL accelerator facility and shown prototype components for FRIB that MSU is presently fabricating in-house.
The FRIB facility will utilize a superconducting linear accelerator to produce intense beams of rare isotopes. According to the FRIB website, “FRIB will provide scientists critical information about the properties of these rare isotopes in order to better understand the origin of the elements and the evolution of the cosmos.” For more information on FRIB’s mission and technical features we suggest you visit FRIB’s website.
An important theme of MSU’s approach to the project will be to develop the “lowest cost configuration that meets technical requirements.” A prime example of this is MSU’s solution to the layout of the driver LINAC, folding it back upon its own path in a “paperclip” configuration. This configuration, while adding minor complexity to the LINAC, greatly reduces the total cost by significantly reducing the required civil construction. In order to achieve its cost goals, MSU plans to partner with industry to develop a vendor base that can support the project. Their intent is to base technical procurements on “Best Value” rather than lowest cost. At Meyer Tool, we were pleased to hear this will be MSU’s approach since providing the best overall value or the lowest total cost of ownership is how we help our customers Reduce Project
