Summary of NCSX SIT Meeting of Tuesday, May 27, 2003
1. PDR re-scheduling (Hutch)
- The PDR dates previously proposed (week of Oct. 20) encountered several objections when presented to PPPL and DOE management. One concern is that it would keep NCSX engineers away from the SOFT conference. After re-consideration, the SIT decided to recommend Oct. 7-9, the week before SOFT, for the PDR.
ACTION: Hutch/Wayne present to PPPL and DOE management.
- Ron presented a draft schedule for preparation of PDR deliverables. The "pencils-down" date is about the end of August to support the new PDR date. After that, the focus will be on preparation of documentation and presentations. The schedule will be modified to include internal reviews of each work package prior to the PDR. Initial cost updates for all work packages are occuring now. Later, internal technical, cost, and schedule reviews of each work package will be held. These will be scheduled for the June-August time frame. The PDR preparation plans will be discussed at Wednesday's WBS-1 meeting.
ACTION: Ron.
2. Project Control Issues
The practice of monthly status meetings with WBS managers will be re-instated.
- Status data will still be collected electronically by Ron.
- Monthly status meetings will generally be scheduled on Monday afternoons. Participants will typically be the WBS manager, Larry or Brad, Wayne, Ron, and Hutch. The plan is to keep them to 20 minutes and cover 3 topics: 1)explanation of variances, 2)update estimates to complete, and 3)issues. Status meetings for WBS 13 (conventional coils), 15 (structures), and 4 (power systems) were held the afternoon of May 27.
- As part of the upcoming May status update, a number of the FY-03 work packages will be re-baselined, because the current plans have now deviated too far from the original baseline, which called for an April 2003 PDR, to be useful for tracking
3. Project Re-baselining for the PDR
- Cost update reviews of WBS 14 (windings), 18 (field-period assembly), 8 (Management and Integration), and 25 (NBI) have been held. All show cost growth since the CDR and require follow-up action to reduce them.
- Suggestions for reducing WBS 8 costs (currently 38% out of the box) were requested.
ACTION: Wayne, Mike, Jim.
ACTION: Hutch produce a reduced WBS 8 estimate.
- A Value Engineering task force of L. Dudek, C. Neumeyer, and M. Zarnstorff (chair) was appointed in a charter issued May 27. Their task is to find cost savings via value improvements. A plan is due June 6 and a final report will be needed as part of the PDR documentation package.
4. Critical Technical Issues
- Modular coil and vacuum vessel modeling: re-model of the shell to make the "wings" mesh properly is in progress. A model of the vacuum vessel is nearly completed. Thereafter, local modifications to eliminate interferences will be made.
- Local smoothing of too-tight bends (as tight as one inch) in Z01 needs to be pursued. ACTION: Wayne.
- A technical working meeting on keystoning-related issues, including the choice insulation system, is planned for Thurs., May 29 at 1:30.
ACTION: Mike obtain contact information for J. Sapper, Hutch follow up.
- Worrisome discrepancies between PPPL and ORNL Pro/E measurements are being investigated.
- Physics analysis of the E04 design looks promising (Mike); successful PIES runs have been completed. It is likely that it will be acceptable as a physics design, but a few more days of analysis are needed. Though E04 is generally considered to be preferable to Z01 for engineering, an assessment is needed to support a decision on whether or not to shift to the new coils.
ACTION: Mike provide updates of physics analyses.
ACTION: Dave W. assess engineering implications.
5. Next SIT Meeting: Monday, June 2.
Summary by:
Hutch Neilson