From Paul Golan: Accident Reporting

by Paul Golan

It has been a year since I came to SLAC as the Stanford Site Office manager and it has been an amazing year for the laboratory. I would like borrow Persis’s weekly column to provide feedback on what I have seen regarding safety at SLAC. First, congratulations to the Linac Coherent Light Source team; over the last 145 days, they have had only one reportable injury despite a massive amount of work completed—including the pouring of 5000 yards of concrete, energization of high voltage switch gear, and testing of many newly installed utility systems. My challenge to the LCLS team is to complete construction without another accident or injury.

At last October’s Safety and Security briefing, I challenged each of you to work the entire year without an injury. The good news is most of you met that challenge; with less than a month to go in the fiscal year, we have had twenty-one reportable injuries, which is one-third fewer than we saw at this time in FY07. That means more than 1400 of you had no injuries. I am seeing a greater awareness of hazards. I am seeing more managers in the field on a routine basis. I am seeing more people looking after their co-workers. In short I am seeing a lot of good, reinforcing behaviors. Thank you for making it a safer year and keep up the good work… we can continue to do better! Read more...

SLAC at the LHC: Computing and Data Services

by Kelen Tuttle

Not all of the Large Hadron Collider's hardware resides on the French/Swiss border; SLAC is playing a role in data analysis for the LHC's ATLAS detector right here on site. As a Tier 2 computing center, the lab has an integral part in the global effort to analyze the onslaught of data expected from ATLAS once the LHC comes online. SLAC is one of a few dozen Tier 2 institutions around the world, and one of only five in the U.S. At the moment, the main job of a Tier 2 institution is to run collision simulations. Once the LHC turns on, the lab's role will expand to include interpreting the data in search of a deeper understanding of physics at high energies.

"Intense data analysis is always a computing challenge," said Richard Mount, director of Scientific Computing Services and principal investigator for SLAC's Tier 2 project. "The unprecedented scale of BaBar physics analysis and our forward-looking work such as PetaCache, which involves massive random-access memory, have positioned us to create an agile and innovative environment for ATLAS analysis."

The tiered grid computing system enables the distribution and organization of the LHC's vast data and computing resources. CERN, the Tier 0 institution, will conduct the first round of data collection. The data will then find their way to one of the 10 Tier 1 institutions around the world, including Brookhaven National Laboratory—the only such site in the U.S.—for reconstruction of raw data into useful information such as particle energy and momentum. After multiple rounds of further Tier 1 refinement, the data are ready for Tier 2 computing centers like SLAC, which will provide researchers with the computing power they need to begin analysis for their particular projects. Read more...

Word of the Week:
Plerion

by Brad Plummer

The Crab Nebula is a plerion powered by an energetic pulsar.
(Image courtesy NASA.
Click for larger image.)

A plerion—a celestial object also known as a "pulsar wind nebula"—is an immense cloud of glowing gas powered by an energetic pulsar, often found within the remnants of a supernova. Unlike other nebulae, plerions appear not as expanding shells of gas but as clouds with filled centers, glowing with the synchrotron radiation of high-energy particles emitted by their pulsars. Plerions are also a source of gamma rays, which are of interest to scientists using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to study both pulsars and any surrounding pulsar wind nebulae.

Building the LCLS: Weekly Update

by Brad Plummer

Construction highlights from the Linac Coherent Light Source this week include:

• Fire alarm and pager system testing throughout the LCLS facility, which will continue for another two weeks

• Emergency lighting in the Beam Dump and the Front End Enclosure

• Grounding installations at the Access Tunnel entrance

Events (see all | submit)

Today (2:00 p.m.) Photon Science Seminar: Paul Alivisatos (UC Berkeley)
Sep 8 (9:00 a.m.)
21st Annual DOE Golf Challenge
Sep 9 (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: Status of the Search for Gravitational Waves

Access (see all)

Announcements
(see all | submit)

Lab Announcements

FY08 Travel Reimbursement Deadline: Sep 12, 12:00 p.m.

Community Bulletin Board

News (submit)

Last-ever Look at ESA's Gravity Satellite GOCE ESA news
NIST Studies How New Helium Ion Microscope Measures Up NIST news release
LHC Countdown: 5 Days.
Bracing for a Maelstrom of Data, CERN Puts Its Faith in the Grid Science
Mega Grid for Mega Science International Science Grid This Week
How U.S. Researchers Are Making the Switch to the Large Hadron Collider Scientific American

<% Response.AddHeader "Last-modified", getArticleDate() 'Response.AddHeader "Last-modified","Mon, 01 Sep 1997 01:03:33 GMT" 'Monday, December 06, 2010 %>

View online at http://today.slac.stanford.edu/.

From Paul Golan: Accident Reporting by Paul Golan It has been a year since I came to SLAC as the Stanford Site Office manager and it has been an amazing year for the laboratory. I would like borrow Persis’s weekly column to provide feedback on what I have seen regarding safety at SLAC. First, congratulations to the Linac Coherent Light Source team; over the last 145 days, they have had only one reportable injury despite a massive amount of work completed—including the pouring of 5000 yards of concrete, energization of high voltage switch gear, and testing of many newly installed utility systems. My challenge to the LCLS team is to complete construction without another accident or injury. At last October’s Safety and Security briefing, I challenged each of you to work the entire year without an injury. The good news is most of you met that challenge; with less than a month to go in the fiscal year, we have had twenty-one reportable injuries, which is one-third fewer than we saw at this time in FY07. That means more than 1400 of you had no injuries. I am seeing a greater awareness of hazards. I am seeing more managers in the field on a routine basis. I am seeing more people looking after their co-workers. In short I am seeing a lot of good, reinforcing behaviors. Thank you for making it a safer year and keep up the good work… we can continue to do better! Read more...

SLAC at the LHC: Computing and Data Services by Kelen Tuttle Not all of the Large Hadron Collider's hardware resides on the French/Swiss border; SLAC is playing a role in data analysis for the LHC's ATLAS detector right here on site. As a Tier 2 computing center, the lab has an integral part in the global effort to analyze the onslaught of data expected from ATLAS once the LHC comes online. SLAC is one of a few dozen Tier 2 institutions around the world, and one of only five in the U.S. At the moment, the main job of a Tier 2 institution is to run collision simulations. Once the LHC turns on, the lab's role will expand to include interpreting the data in search of a deeper understanding of physics at high energies. "Intense data analysis is always a computing challenge," said Richard Mount, director of Scientific Computing Services and principal investigator for SLAC's Tier 2 project. "The unprecedented scale of BaBar physics analysis and our forward-looking work such as PetaCache, which involves massive random-access memory, have positioned us to create an agile and innovative environment for ATLAS analysis." The tiered grid computing system enables the distribution and organization of the LHC's vast data and computing resources. CERN, the Tier 0 institution, will conduct the first round of data collection. The data will then find their way to one of the 10 Tier 1 institutions around the world, including Brookhaven National Laboratory—the only such site in the U.S.—for reconstruction of raw data into useful information such as particle energy and momentum. After multiple rounds of further Tier 1 refinement, the data are ready for Tier 2 computing centers like SLAC, which will provide researchers with the computing power they need to begin analysis for their particular projects. Read more...	Word of the Week: Plerion by Brad Plummer The Crab Nebula is a plerion powered by an energetic pulsar. (Image courtesy NASA. Click for larger image.) A plerion—a celestial object also known as a "pulsar wind nebula"—is an immense cloud of glowing gas powered by an energetic pulsar, often found within the remnants of a supernova. Unlike other nebulae, plerions appear not as expanding shells of gas but as clouds with filled centers, glowing with the synchrotron radiation of high-energy particles emitted by their pulsars. Plerions are also a source of gamma rays, which are of interest to scientists using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to study both pulsars and any surrounding pulsar wind nebulae. Building the LCLS: Weekly Update by Brad Plummer Construction highlights from the Linac Coherent Light Source this week include: • Fire alarm and pager system testing throughout the LCLS facility, which will continue for another two weeks • Emergency lighting in the Beam Dump and the Front End Enclosure • Grounding installations at the Access Tunnel entrance	Events (see all \| submit) Today (2:00 p.m.) Photon Science Seminar: Paul Alivisatos (UC Berkeley) Sep 8 (9:00 a.m.) 21st Annual DOE Golf Challenge Sep 9 (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: Status of the Search for Gravitational Waves Access (see all) Sector 0 and 29 Gates Closed this morning Loop Road and B040 Parking Lot Closures PEP Ring Road and Alpine Gate Closed Announcements (see all \| submit) Lab Announcements FY08 Travel Reimbursement Deadline: Sep 12, 12:00 p.m. Community Bulletin Board Spare the Air Today Total Solar Eclipse from Russia News (submit) Last-ever Look at ESA's Gravity Satellite GOCE ESA news NIST Studies How New Helium Ion Microscope Measures Up NIST news release LHC Countdown: 5 Days. Bracing for a Maelstrom of Data, CERN Puts Its Faith in the Grid Science Mega Grid for Mega Science International Science Grid This Week How U.S. Researchers Are Making the Switch to the Large Hadron Collider Scientific American
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