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Phase Two of FFTB Removal Begins

Expect to see trucks ferrying 70-feet-long blocks of concrete up and down the Gallery Road along the linac in May and June.

Phase two of the Final Focus Test Beam (FFTB) removal project began May 1. This phase includes removing about 70 such blocks of concrete, each weighing 38 tons, which make up the roof and walls of the FFTB.

The FFTB received its last particle beam on April 10, just minutes before phase one began. During the three-week phase one, SLAC staff disconnected electrical and personnel protection systems, removed vacuum drift chambers and other valuable experimental equipment, and ensured no hazards remained for phase two.

"Phase one was phenomenal," said project engineer Richard Boyce. "It's been well-organized, well-executed and professional." He credited Paul Miller for safety oversight, John Seeman for scheduling, the Mechanical Fabrication Department (MFD), Conventional and Experimental Facilities (CEF) and Controls and Power Electronics (CPE) for executing the plans, and Al Baker for managing the site.

During phase two, subcontractor Rigging International of Alameda, California, will use cranes to remove the concrete, flat-bed trucks to move it, and a big forklift to lift the concrete from truck to storage locations at sectors 3, 7 and 24 along the linac. Rigging International will also move approximately 80 magnets to various inside locations for reuse in the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SABER (a proposed FFTB replacement) and for spares.

Boyce said the South Gallery Road will be closed for about an hour each time the forklift is unloading a block from the truck, probably four times a day for several weeks in May.

Three technicians from the Mechanical Fabrication Department (MFD) will be on hand full-time, especially to handle any cutting of radioactive materials. Radiation Physics will measure everything that leaves FFTB, and ES&H has set up a program for sorting waste material.

The area immediately around the FFTB has been fenced off and is now a radiological controlled area (RCA) and a construction zone. Steel-toed shoes, long pants, safety glasses with side shields and hard hats are required in the construction zone. Staff are reminded to not cross taped boundaries or go into the construction zone without obtaining prior approval.

Phase two is scheduled to end June 30, at which time the LCLS construction manager will take over the site to begin preparing the area for the LCLS's Beam Transport Hall.

—Heather Rock Woods
   SLAC Today, May 2, 2006

Image: With this first "arterial cut," workers began severing the FFTB tunnel from the beam switch yard and the support building. (Image courtesy of Jim Craft).