Present: Y. Blumenfeld, P. Butler (Chairman and replacing J. Billowes), R. Catherall, S. Franchoo, M. Garcia-Borge, A. Herlert (replacing K. Blaum), M. Huyse, A. Jokinen, M. Lindroos, T. Nilsson, K. Riisager, S. Siem, N. Marginean p.t.(replacing V. Zamfir), T. Giles
 
Excused: J. Billowes, K. Blaum, A. Di Pietro, V. Zamfir

The meeting starts at 09.00 h

1. Introductory remarks by the chairperson

The chairman opens the meeting and welcomes Y. Blumenfeld as the new ISOLDE Physics group leader. The committee accepts the chairmans nomination of Y. Blumenfeld as the new ISOLDE Spokesperson.

2. Approval of the minutes of the 52nd meeting.

The minutes of the 52nd ISCC meeting are approved.

3. Technical developments and AB Department news (R. Catherall) (see overheads)

R. Catherall summarizes the study undertaken and the steps made to solve the ventilation problems at ISOLDE. The situation has been improved to such an extent that on the 25th July it was decided to allow 2µA of p-beam to be sent to each separator.

The committee is told of the successful and reliable first year run of the RFQ cooler which went without any major breakdowns.  It also hears that the Fast Tape Station is about to be installed at the LA2 beam line and that it will be tested in parallel with the existing tape station during 2008 and 2009 before the present setup is permanently replaced.

R. Catherall goes on to present how the staged construction of the HIE-LINAC will allow the machine installation during shutdown periods so there should be no interuption of the beam delivery. The cavity R&D is on going with the first results expected by February 2009.

He goes on to summarize the REX campaign during 2008 as well as new developements at REX including the increased efficiences of the FEBIAD ion source which have been obtained by L. Penescu. The main projects for this years shutdown period are presented to the committee and then R. Catherall moves on to discuss target material developments and the installation of the Nd:YAG lasers at RILIS. Approximately 60% of the 2000 hours of RILIS operation during 2008 were achieved using the Solid State Lasers while the Copper Vapour Lasers were used for the other 40%.

The on-going projects are then summarized including WiTCH-REX mu-metal shielding, the tilted foils in the REX beam line and the intermediate solution until 2010 for target disposal.

Finally, R. Catherall presents an overview of staff working at ISOLDE and informs the committee that 6 requests for PhD students have been made through the German PhD student programme.

M. Garcia-Borge informs the committee of a Spanish programme designed to give engineers 2 years hands-on experience. She requests detailed project descriptions in order to apply for 2 engineers to work at ISOLDE.

4. Scheduling and PH Department news (A. Herlert / Y. Blumenfeld) (see overheads)

A. Herlert presents the accelerator schedule for 2008 which allowed 27 weeks of Physics. He goes on to discuss the factors which influenced this years schedule including RILIS operation, ISCOOL setup and development and installation of the new tape station. The successful running period during 2008 is then discussed and the committee is told that a detailed report will be presented at the next ISCC meeting.

The status of the INTC shifts is then presented including the evolution of shifts requested, approved, scheduled and delivered since 2004. The committee is told that new experiments usually get assigned beamtime in the year they are approved by the INTC or the year after.

A. Herlert summarizes the situation regarding the reallocation of floor space in the ISOLDE hall:

• CRIS is a new experiment for which K. Flanagan is the spokesperson and installation will begin in November 2008.
• MISTRAL has now been closed by its users and the setup is to be removed at the latest during the shutdown of 2009/2010.
• ASPIC users plan to meet in January/February 2009 to try to find a new spokesperson. A decision on the future of ASPIC is required at the beginning of next year.
• ECR charge breeder users held a collaboration meeting on May 27^th 2008 but the future plans for the ECR are still unclear. The ECR will be kept at GHM for 2009.
• Β-NMR: This new experimental setup from HMI Berlin is being installed behind REX-LINAC with support from P. Imielski.

The draft accelerator schedule for 2009 is then presented to the committee. Protons will be available from April 6^th and physics should start at ISOLDE on April 9^th. The protons will stop on November 14^th giving 31.5 weeks of physics.

The committee is also told that n_TOF will start up on May 11^th 2009.

Y. Blumenfeld outlines the ISOLDE related applications for the next CERN fellows and associates selection committee. He then informs the committee that the next Physics department leader will be Philippe Bloch and that Sergio Bertolucci will replace Jos Engelen as the Chief Scientific Officer.

5. HIE-ISOLDE (M. Lindroos)

M. Lindroos first summarizes the general status of the HIE-ISOLDE project:

• Good progress has been made on the new SC linac thanks to a Belgian grant.
• Important support has been received from the Cockcroft Institute in the UK for the linac R&D which includes a PhD student.
• CERN has written support letters for proposals connected to the HIE-ISOLDE project.
• Studies for new robots and the updating of drawings of the whole ISOLDE facility are in progress.

M. Lindroos explains that the HIE-ISOLDE project consists of 3 themes: Linac, Quality and Intensity. He goes on to summarize the status of each theme:

1. Linac:

• A proposal, for which P. Butler is the spokesperson, is being prepared for the STFC in the UK.
• CERN is offering some support for R&D, e.g. the design and production of the prototype cavity.
• The EUCARD WP SC cavities, thin films task will enable R&D to be carried out on a new method for the sputtering of quarterwave cavities.
• A proposal for the development of a new high intensity and fast EBIS charge breeder is being prepared in the United States for the DOE. The breeder would be developed for TRIUMF, HIE-ISOLDE and FRIB. Some extra resources will be needed to construct a breeder to be permanently installed at HIE-ISOLDE.

2. Quality:

• The RFQ cooler and RILIS/LARIS are already operational due to UK and Swedish grants.
• A conceptual design for a new HRS has been elaborated.

3. Intensity:

• A collaboration has started with the University of Tampere on a conceptual design report for new target handling robots. In order to complete this design study 100kCHF is required.
• The design of the new target area should be started urgently. Assistance is requested from NIPNE in Romania and ITN in Lisbon with whom collaboration already occurs for the EURISOL high-power target area.
• Discussions with the accelerator management at CERN should continue  regarding the actions required for ISOLDE to benefit from LINAC4, a faster cycling of the booster and the Light-SPL project.

The committee  congratulates everybody involved in the RFQ cooler and RILIS/LARIS projects.

6. New high resolution mass separator (T. Giles) (see overheads)

T. Giles presents a proposal for a staged upgrade of the ISOLDE HRS. This would address each of the limitations of the HRS in turn which would keep the HRS in operation during the upgrade. The three stages of the upgrade would be:

• Upgrade of the beam instrumentation
• Removal of beam aberrations by replacing magnets which would cost approximately 200kCHF.
• Rebuilding of the entire first section of the HRS which would include the rather costly expansion of the tunnel into an actual room.

T. Giles then goes on to compare the actual performance of the HRS with that which would be obtained after the upgrade is completed.

The chairman suggests that discussion about this very interesting proposal should be continued at the next ISCC meeting.

7. Budget 2008 and resources 2009 (Y. Blumenfeld)

Y. Blumenfeld informs the committee that the collaboration budget is looking very healthy and that the income for 2009 should be 690kCHF.

The situation of D. Voulot is discussed and it is suggested that the Collaboration continue to fund his fellowship for its 3^rd and final year. However, a long term solution has to be found to avoid losing this valued member of ISOLDE. The committee decides that the AB department should be contacted about D. Voulots position in January when the new organisational structure of CERN is known.

The committee hears that N. Severijns has the funds to pay half the salary of someone with “high school +2” qualifications to work at CERN on the WITCH project. The committee agrees to fund the other half of the salary and that this person should also spend time working for REX-ISOLDE.

Y. Blumenfeld reminds the committee that there will be no followup to EURONS next year so there will be no funding available for 2009.

8. M.O.U. issues – new members (Y. Blumenfeld)

The committee is told that Norway is in the process of signing the MoU and that Portugal has applied to its ministry for funding so that it can join the collaboration. Y. Blumenfeld also tells the committee that researchers from Slovakia are becoming involved in experiments at ISOLDE which could eventually lead to this country becoming a future member of the collaboration.

M. Lindroos, A. Herlert and Y. Blumenfeld are to visit India in January 2009 to develop contacts for ISOLDE.

9. INTC matters (M. Huyse)

M. Huyse reports that

• There are two new members of the INTC: Patricia Roussel Chomaz and Nigel Orr.
• The last research board discussed radioactive waste from ISOLDE.
• J. Engelen has requested a written report on the planning for HIE-ISOLDE by 5^th December 2008.

10. Possible membership of CERN in NuPECC (Y. Blumenfeld)

Y. Blumenfeld  informs the committee that discussions were held about the possibility of CERN becoming a member of NuPECC. The committee is very positive towards this possibility and suggests that talks are held with Sergio Bertolucci, who will replace Jos Engelen as the Chief Scientific Officer, about this matter and that any developments are coordinated internally with other groups at CERN.

11. Renewal of committee membership

The chairman reminds the committee that, as a convention, memberstates should reconsider their representitive to the ISCC every three years.

12. Election of new committee chairperson

The committee elects M. Garcia-Borge as the new chairperson of the ISCC and she accepts the position.

13. A.O.B.

• M. Garcia-Borge expresses her concern about the time which is allowed for doing the new radiation protection course being cut and the fact that not all users have EDH accounts which are required to sign up for the course. A. Herlert will contact T. Otto about this again.
• Experiments that would like storage space should contact A. Herlert so that space can be reallocated.
• T. Nilsson informs the committee that the NuSTAR week has been moved to 23-27 March 2009.
• K. Riisager thanks P. Butler for all the work he has done as the chairman of the ISCC.
• M. Garcia-Borge announces that the European Few Body conference will take place in Salamanca from 29^th August to the 3^rd September 2010.
• The next ISCC meeting will be held at CERN on Monday 16^th February 2009 at 09:00.

The meeting ends at 12:15h