The Spallation Neutron Source diagnostics: Initial integration and commissioning progress report

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Project, a collaboration of six national laboratories, is constructing an accelerator based neutron facility at ORNL. The SNS accelerator systems will deliver a 1 GeV, 1.44 MW proton beam to a liquid mercury target. The high-beam power and desired high availability of the accelerator complex have had important consequences for the design and implementation of diagnostics at the SNS. Namely, diagnostic systems have been designed with high reliability, the ability for hands-on maintenance, redundancy in critical diagnostics, and commonality of subsystems in mind. The multi-laboratory diagnostics group has successfully implemented and commissioned a number of systems at LBNL during initial commissioning of the SNS Front-End systems. This talk reports on the team's progress in diagnostics commissioning and performance for the SNS, summarizes the approach that has been used in this multi-laboratory effort, describes the lessons learned and presents the technical and organizational challenges that lie ahead.