Summary of NCSX System Integration Team (SIT) Meeting of Monday, June 28, 2004

1.   MCWF and VVSA Procurement

• The Engineering team is congratulated for having issued the VVSA RFP on June 24, an important milestone for the project.
• There was a discussion concerning how long the prototype machining activity should continue.  The purpose of this activity is to provide the suppliers with experience that can benefit their production proposals. Once final proposals are submitted, namely their so-called “best and final offers” prior to source selection, the activity will have served its purpose. Therefore it was decided that the prototype machining activities will continue until best and final offers are submitted.
  

2.   Monthly Briefing for DOE, June 30

• The Project team will brief DOE on June 30, and monthly thereafter, as a new feature of the monthly reporting process.  The June 30 briefing will focus on procurement issues and project responses to the recent Final Design Review and Lehman Independent Project Review.
  

3.  Critical Issues
The following items from the critical issues list were discussed:

• 14-10, Service life of the MCWF (fracture limitations).  The project is resolving this issue as follows:
  
  • The spec has been modified to require a higher level of radiographic inspection in the critical, high-stress areas. Internal flaws larger than a certain critical size will have to be repaired.
  • The suppliers are required to “bias”  the design of the gating system, using their flow solidification analysis, so as to promote high casting quality in the critical areas.
  • The suppliers are required to provide an expanded materials properties data set, including transverse and longitudinal properties, modulus, and charpy tests. They will test 3 samples, equally spaced around the circumference from each casting.
  • The project is conducting fracture tests on samples of each supplier’s alloy. The samples have to be machined to the proper configuration, then tested.  Phil is working with vendors to determine price and delivery for machining and testing.  Time scale is expected to be of order 1 month.
  • The project is continuing crack growth analysis to determine what to put in the criteria document as a failure criterion. This is being led by ORNL (Kevin Freudenberg) in collaboration with Len Myatt. Time scale is expected to be of order 4-6 weeks.
    
• 12-3 and 81-2,  Completion of MCWF final design.  The WBS 1 team decided to modify the poloidal break design based on supplier feedback. The prototype drawings and models are being updated. Checking of drawings is still in progress.  The RFP is expected to be issued this week (by July 2).
• 14-9,  MC winding pack cooling.  Bids for the clamps have come in lower than expected, reducing cost growth risk from $250k to $80k.  June 10 workshop identified a number of improvements in the cooling design. Further improvements are being identified.  Cost growth risk of $500k identified at Lehman review is coming down, but not yet quantified.  The technical issues of modular coil winding are a continuing focus of the weekly WBS 1 meetings.
  

4.  Cost and schedule  (Ron)

• WBS 1 work activities have diverged sufficiently from the WAFs that it was decided to re-plan the schedules through about December, 2004 at this time, in order to re-establish a valid baseline to report against.  The time horizon covers the period in which we will complete preparations for winding the modular coils, which we are aiming to start in December..  The re-planning activity has begun and is to be completed in the next few days.
• June status meeting is tentatively targeted for Wednesday, July 7 but may be postponed a few days to complete the re-planning.
  

5.   Safety (Hutch)

• We discussed some safety-related incidents that have occurred recently at PPPL, and their implications for NCSX.
• Our safety management approach must target reductions across the entire range of accident severity, from the relatively minor (cuts, muscle strains) to major injuries.
• We need to emphasize observance of signs, barriers and other measures designed to keep people out of dangerous areas or take proper precautions when in those areas.
• As a follow-up to the SIT meeting, Erik Perry provided the following information concerning the safety issues associated with access to NCSX test cell:  The NCSX test cell is a construction area.  When ropes are in place, they definitely mean “do not enter” and must not be crossed.  The ropes are taken down whenever there is not a reason for them to be in place.  Safety shoes are required due to the nature of the hazards in that area. Any time access is required for a specific occasion, one should contact Erik, who will make every effort to accommodate, even on short notice.
  

6.  Next SIT Meeting:  t.b.a.  (Note: there is an IPT Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, July 6, at 11:00.)

Summary by:
Hutch Neilson