Summary of NCSX SIT Meeting of Monday, August 11, 2003
1. Project Scope and Cost for the PDR
A discussion was held on the project's objectives in
developing the PDR baseline.
The project's goal is to baseline the project with a cost
objective of $73.5M (same as the current baseline), including 28% budget
contingency on the remaining work as of 10/1/03. To accomplish this, further
scope reductions are necessary.
The WBS 5 cost review meeting on August 8 resulted in
decisions to significantly streamline the Day-1 Central I&C and Data
Acquistion System, with substantial cost savings expected. An updated estimate
will be submitted by G. Oliaro in about 2 weeks.
Reiersen recommended a simplified Day-1 power supply
configurations which minimizes the number of circuits (6), power supply
sections (6), and cables (12). The same power supply configuration (with some
coil reconnections) is satisfactory for both first plasma and initial field
line mapping at B=0.5 T and room temperature coils. The recommended
configuration was approved and these requirement will be given to Ramakrishnan
for use in developing the WBS 4 design and estimates.
Reiersen recommended leaving the cryostat partially
uninstalled through first plasma and an initial period of field line mapping
and engineering testing. This will facilitate access to the device for making
adjustments to coils or leads should it be necessary to correct field errors
during field mapping. Cryostat installation would have to be completed before
diagnostics and other peripherals start getting installed, otherwise it would
probably be too difficult to fit it in. The consensus was that the cryostat
design and fabrication costs, and some of the installation costs, should be
kept in the MIE project estimate, but some of the installation costs could be
deferred.
There was a discussion about how much useful work could be
done with room temperature coils. The performance limits were reported to be
0.5T for 3 s (coil-heating-limited) for initial field line mapping, and 0.75T
for short pulse (power-supply-voltage-limited) for plasma operation but without
NBI since the orbit losses would be too high. Thus we could start with RT
operation but would probably want to complete the cryostat installation and
move to cryogenic operation within 6 months or less.
The availability of nontrivial room-temperature performance
means that we can consider deleting the cryogenic and VV bakeout systems from
the MIE scope and complete them on operating funds. Issues are:
* How long would it take to implement these systems?
* What temporary provisions (e.g. water cooling of the
coils) would be needed to support room temperature operation and what would
they cost?
ACTION: Larry Dudek to follow up on these.
Zarnstorff emphasized the importance of having NBI available
for obtaining compelling physics results as early in the program as possible.
Work needs to start on it well before first plasma. If it were deleted from the
MIE scope there is a risk of significant delay in NBI, since it is not known to
what extent hardware fabrication activities will be supported under research
preparation while the MIE project is in progress.
The present program plan has field mapping as the first
research activity after first plasma. If the field mapping apparatus were
deleted from the MIE scope there is a risk of significant delay in starting the
research program.
Strategy for scope cutting from the MIE project:
* The power supply and I&C systems descopings being
discussed can be done without impacting the "nameplate" performance
ratings of the machine and we should go as far as we can with those.
* Leaving the cryostat uninstalled for a few months is
technically advantageous and we should plan on it. At most, it only saves part
of the installation costs but every bit helps.
After that, the impacts become more visible and the
programmatic risks rise significantly:
* Next to go would be the cryogenic and VV bakeout systems
provided the temporary systems to support RT operation don't chew up all the
savings.
* Next to go would be NBI.
* Last to go would be field mapping apparatus.
2. PDR Preparations
* Panel
Ten people have agreed to serve on the PDR committee:
Jim Anderson (retired from LANL), Paul Anderson (GA), David
Anderson (U.Wisc), Dan Driemeyer (Boeing), Jim Irby (MIT), Ray Johnson
(ORNL/SNS), Steve Knowlton (Auburn), Jörg Sapper (retired from IPP), Carl
Strawbridge (ORNL/SNS), and Peter Wanderer (Brookhaven). Chair will be Strawbridge.
Deputy chairs will be D.Anderson (magnets) and Driemeyer (vacuum vessel). The
committee makeup will be reviewed for coverage of all areas and additional
members will be recruited if necessary. Per DOE wishes, the panel has a strong
non-fusion representation and management issues have been added to the scope of
the review.
* Preliminary Design Report Preparations
Documentation guidance has been issued to authors and
preparation schedules are incorporated in the WAFs. A summary plan and schedule
for report preparation is needed to facilitate tracking.
ACTION: Wayne.
3. MCWF Schedule
The modular coil winding forms have fallen behind schedule
by about 2 months relative to the July 1 baseline because of design delays.
Release for prototype fabrication is now forecast for October 14, jeopardizing
critical downstream milestones such as the FDR and release for production.
ACTION: Brad identify workarounds to improve the schedule.
4. Next SIT Meeting: Monday, August 18, 2003.
Summary by:
Hutch Neilson