Status of the Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility

The Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility presently operates the Oak Ridge Isochronous Cyclotron (ORIC). This accelerator provides heavy ions up to argon with energies useful for nuclear physics. The Phase I expansion of this facility, now a year away from completion, includes a 25-MV vertical folded tandem accelerator, beam transport and injection systems to use the ORIC as an energy booster, and additional experiment areas for the beams directly from the tandem. The tandem-cyclotron combination will provide heavy ions with energies up to 25 MeV/A for A < 35 and above 6 MeV/A up to A = 160, with intensities ≥ 10
¹¹
particles/sec. Building construction for the project is essentially complete. The accelerator manufacturer, National Electrostatics Corporation, has completed installation and testing of the 10-m-diam by 30-m-high accelerator pressure vessel and has begun installation of the accelerator system. The column structure and injector have previously been assembled at the NEC plant and the digital control system operated without voltage on the column. It is expected that voltage tests will begin at Oak Ridge in January 1979 and beam tests in April. Completion of the project, including acceptance tests of the tandem and the beam injection system for ORIC, is presently scheduled for November 15, 1979. Construction of Phase II for the facility, which will include a much larger booster cyclotron and additional research areas, is expected to begin in 1982.