Present: J. Billowes, K. Blaum, Y. Blumenfeld, P. Butler, R. Catherall, A. Di Pietro,  J. Cederkall, L. Fraile, S. Franchoo, M.J. Garcia-Borge (Chairperson), A. Herlert, A. Jokinen,  S. Siem, N. Marginean (representing V. Zamfir), Y. Kadi, K. Riisager, P. Van Duppen

Invited: S. Harissopulos, R. Losito (P.T.)

The meeting starts at 09.00 h

1. Introductory remarks by the chairperson

The chairperson opens the meeting and announces that S. Harissopulos has been invited to attend the meeting as negotiations with Greece for it to become a member of the ISOLDE Collaboration are nearing completion. The committee is also told that R. Losito has been cordially invited to attend the ISCC meetings from now on.

2. Approval of the minutes of the 56th meeting.

The minutes of the 56th ISCC meeting are approved.

3. Technical developments and BE & EN Department news (R. Catherall) (see overheads)

R. Catherall summarises the situation of projects undertaken during this years shutdown. He tells the committee that good progress is being made on the consolidation program of the vacuum controls and that the project is on schedule. He explains that, at REX-ISOLDE, the full concrete shielding has been put in place and tests will be made to see what effect it has. He then goes on to inform the committee of other work being done at REX-ISOLDE, including improvements to the vacuum and installation of the water cooling system.

The committee is told that at RILIS, the two new dye laser from Sirah have been received and should be installed in February. In March the copper vapour laser system will be removed which will provide more space for the new generation of Ti-Sa lasers.

R. Catherall goes on to tell the committee that the problem of condensation in the experimental hall has now been fixed and that a new hand/foot radiation monitor has been installed. He explains that the opening between the old and new hall is to be enlarged to allow the removal of the MISTRAL magnet and that the HT room has been cleaned and protected in view of the scheduled Boris tube work.

The committee hears a summary of the front end (FE) 6 exchange program which is still on schedule.  Final commissioning of FE 6 is underway with tests and modifications on-going.

News from the support groups is then summarised:

1. SC-RP: A supplementary radio-protection technician is available during the shutdown period which is welcomed by the committee.

2. EN-STI:

• The target area upgrade project is being launched with budget allocated and the hiring of 2 fellows.
• Anna-Paula Bernardes is the new safety Engineer within EN-STI-RBS.
• In March 2010 Pekka Suominen will start work as a fellow for 3 years in EN-STI-RBS. Half of his salary will be paid by the collaboration.
• In mid-February 2010 Peter Valko will start work for 6 months in EN-STI-RBS.
• In EN-STI-LP a Slovak student will start work for 6 months in mid-February.
• A post for a laser physicist is being opened in EN-STI-LP. (News since the meeting: Bruce Marsh has been offered the position.)
• Marion Picard is making good progress on the safety file for ISOLDE as well as following the ALARA document for the FE exchange.
• Emmanuel Brard (Master student from Orsay) will start work in the EN-STI-RBS section for 5 months on April 1^st and his subsistence will be paid by the collaboration.

The committee thanks the following groups for their support for the shutdown work and the Front End exchange: BE-OP, EN-CV, BE-ABP, TE-VSC, TE-EPC, EN-EL and TE-ABT.

R. Catherall confirms to the committee that the people responsible for the vacuum control systems updates know the deadlines connected to ISOLDE and will respect them. The vacuum group should also provide both hardware and software support after the start-up of the new system. The committee asks A. Herlert to make sure that documentation on how to use these new systems is available to users.

A discussion follows about the RILIS lasers. The committee agrees that the new lasers will provide better stability but the number of operating hours will depend on the manpower available; the extension of M. Seliverstov’s contract, which is paid half by Leuven and half by the collaboration, has not yet been discussed.  In order to deal with problems as soon as they occur it is suggested by J. Cederkall that there be some kind of continual observance of the RILIS lasers. R. Losito will ask V. Fedosseev to prepare a list of all the problems encountered at RILIS so each one can be considered.

4. Status of HIE-ISOLDE (Y. Kadi) (see overheads)

Y. Kadi informs the committee that a presentation on HIE-ISOLDE was made to the IEFC (Injection and Experimental Facilities Committee) chaired by P. Collier on January 27th and another will be made to the INTC on February 5th.

The HIE-ISOLDE schedule is then summarised for the committee. The HIE-ISOLDE project concentrates on the construction of the SC LINAC and associated infrastructure in order to upgrade the energy of the post-accelerated radioactive ion beams with a staged approach, first to 5.5 MeV/u in 2013 and then to 10MeV/u by 2014/2015. The design study for the intensity upgrade will start in 2011/2012 and will address the technical feasibility and cost estimate for operating the facility at 10kW once LINAC4 and the upgrade of PS Booster are online.

Y. Kadi then presents the new building layout required for HIE-ISOLDE. He explains that the hangar belonging to the CERN transport group will have to be moved but the committee which has to agree to this only meets once a year. He goes on to discuss the staged SC Linac installation and the new transfer line which has been postponed until the full Linac is in place because the 1.8 MCHF required are not yet available.

The committee is shown the current overall cost estimate of the HIE-ISOLDE project which, including money already spent, is 37.3MCHF on materials and 143 FTE (70 staff + 73 Fellows/PhD). Y. Kadi then goes on to present the resource loaded schedule to fulfill the 5.5 MeV/u SC Linac and summarises the external funding situation.

Y. Kadi then summarises the CATHI proposal that has been submitted. He tells the committee that there is no citizenship required for CATHI fellows and that the first feedback about the proposal is expected in March/April and that, if successful, the first  contracts with fellows could be signed in August/September.

The proposed HIE-ISOLDE management structure is presented as:

• Project Leader: Y. Kadi (EN/HDO)
• Technical Coordinator: M. Pasini (BE/RF)
• Safety Coordinator: to be decided
• Design Study Coordinator: R. Catherall (EN/STI)
• Integration/Infrastructure/Installation Coordination: D. Parchet (GS/SEM)

The committee is shown the list of proposed working groups and then the outlook is summarised:

• The cavity prototype is completed and will be tested by March 2010 at TRIUMF.
• The cryomodule conceptual design is completed and the detailed design will be started as soon as manpower is available.
• A test bench of QWR resonators is being prepared at CERN.
• A complete cavity configuration test at SM18 is planned by the end of 2010.

Y. Blumenfeld informs the committee that, although CERN is making a large effort regarding funds for HIE-ISOLDE, external funds must still be found. He strongly urges members of the ISCC to consider what steps can be taken in their own countries to raise the required funds for both infrastructure and manpower. He notes that 4 to 5 MCHF must be found in the next two years. Y. Kadi will define the required work packages as soon as possible which can then be used to help funding applications.

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

The ISOLDE schedule for 2009 is summarized by A. Herlert. He tells the committee that 437 shifts had been scheduled for 39 experiments and that 350 were actually delivered to 40 different experiments. Just over 82% of the shifts were used for INTC approved experiments.

An overview of GPS/HRS beam for 2009 is presented and problems encountered are discussed. The ISOLDE shift distribution between different types of physics experiments is shown and is seen to be relatively stable during the period 2000 to 2009.

A. Herlert goes on to summarise the use of key resources during 2009:

• Targets: A total of 25 targets were used of which 12 were new actinide targets.
• RILIS: It was used for a total of 155.5 RIB shifts, for 20 different experiments, which corresponds to approximately 2000 hours of online work and 52.8% of INTC shifts during 2009.
• REX-ISOLDE: 91 RIB shifts were delivered to experiments.

The committee is informed that at the November 2009 meeting of the INTC 76 shifts out of the 146 requested were approved which means there are 4 new ISOLDE experiments.

A. Herlert then goes on to present the accelerator schedule for 2010. Protons will be available from the PSB from April 26th and physics will start at ISOLDE on April 29^th. Protons will stop on November 22^nd which will mean 29.5 weeks of physics. This years shutdown is slightly longer than in previous years due to the installation of the new front-end and the new vacuum controls system.

A. Herlert explains that CERN has decided to run the LHC non-stop for a period of 18 months and it is not yet known how the LHC schedule will affect the ISOLDE running period.

The news from the PH department is then summarised by Y. Blumenfeld:

• The ISOLDE group budget has been increased by 10% for 2010.
• Negotiations are underway to secure the 60% ISOLDE secretarial position (30% PH +30% Collaboration) for when J. Weterings’ contract finishes at the end of March 2011.
• D. Yordanov started his fellow position on January 1^st 2009 but the person selected as the WITCH/AD fellow declined the position. It is hoped that a new ISOLDE fellow will be chosen at the next selection meeting, the application deadline for which is March 4^th.
• G. Tveten will leave ISOLDE in April. Hence, there will be an opening for a new PhD student funded by the ISOLDE group.
• The ISOLDE brochure will be printed soon.
• The deadline for abstracts for the EURORIB’10 conference is February 15^th and good presentations of ISOLDE physics are requested.
• The HFI/NQI conference will be held at CERN 13-17 September 2010.
• This years ISOLDE workshop is planned for 8-10 December.
• The refurbishing of the ISOLDE visitors room is continuing.
• The MoUs with LNL/Italy and SKKU/Korea have been signed and the MoU with GANIL is being finalised.

6. New ISOLDE website (A. Herlert)
A. Herlert announces that the new ISOLDE website will soon be moved to http://isolde.web.cern.ch/ISOLDE. Work is still in progress to update many of the pages and suggestions for changes from the ISCC members are appreciated. (At present the new website is still visible at http://isolde.web.cern.ch/ISOLDE/isoldenewweb )

7. News on experiments, in particular ASPIC and High Voltage Platform (A. Herlert)

A. Herlert summarises the current situation of certain ISOLDE set-ups:

• MISTRAL: The clean-up is ongoing and the removal of the 22t magnet is planned for March 2010.
• ASPIC: The ISOLDE group at CERN is now the owner of the ASPIC equipment and K. Potzger is trying to set-up a new ASPIC-2 collaboration to take it over. He has  submitted an LOI which will be considered at the February 4^th INTC meeting.
• HV Platform: Using information supplied by K. Johnston, the history and present status of the HV Platform is discussed, as well as the possible future requirements of users. The committee agrees that the HV cage should be removed and concrete shielding added so that the set-up can be used for collections while a plan for a new HV platform is prepared by K. Johnston and A. Dorsival.

8. Discussion on new Physics Coordinator

The committee is informed that ten candidates applied for the post of Physics Coordinator and that a short list of four candidates has been made by Y. Blumenfeld and M.J. Garcia-Borge. The short list of I. Darby, C. Diget, M. Kowalska and K. Johnston is approved by the committee.

After a short discussion the committee agrees it should continue to use its prerogative to select just one candidate for the post of Physics Coordinator and to facilitate this decision in the future, candidates should be asked to provide a cover letter when applying for an ISOLDE post and that certain candidates should be asked to attend an ISCC meeting for an interview.

The committee concludes that the ISOLDE Physics Coordinator should fulfill the following criteria:

• Have good diplomatic skills; be able to deal with both users and technical staff.
• To be able to foresee problems.
• To be able to make informed decisions.
• Have a broad view of ISOLDE experiments.
• To be able to deal with critism.
• To be a good communicator.
• Have a good understanding of the ISOLDE facility.
• Have a broad understanding of physics.
• To be able to cope with the large amount of administration involved with safety issues at CERN.
• To be interested in scientific management; the post of Physics Coordinator is not an experimental physics post.
• To be fluent in English and to be able to speak French to deal with the technical aspects at ISOLDE.

After discussion, the committee chooses M. Kowalska by a majority vote as the new Physics Coordinator.

9. Budget 2009 and 2010 (Y. Blumenfeld)

An overview of the collaborations expenditure for 2009 is presented to the committee. Y. Blumenfeld informs the committee that the collaboration finances are in a healthy state and that all countries except Norway and France have paid the fee for 2009-2010. He goes on to summarise the current manpower expenditure and then explains that the funds for HIE-ISOLDE for 2009 from the collaboration have now been transferred to the new HIE-ISOLDE team account T131910.

10. News about potential new members(Greece, Korea, Ireland, Portugal) + Norway situation (Y. Blumenfeld)

The situation of the collaboration membership of the following countries is summarised:

• Greece: The MoU is now with S. Bertolucci awaiting his signature. Greece will pay the introductory fee of 30kCHF for the first 3 years of membership and S. Harissopulos will be the Greek representative to the ISCC.
• Ireland: Since M. Henry is at present the only ISOLDE user from Ireland, he would like Ireland to join the collaboration paying a fee of 10kCHF a year (calculated in the same way as the fee proposed to Portugal).
• Korea: Negotiations are underway about Korea joining the collaboration.
• Chile: C. Tenreiro from the University of Talka has expressed an interest in setting up a collaboration which could join the ISOLDE collaboration. The ISCC requests more information before any decision can be made.  
• Portugal: There is still no change in the long standing situation.
• Norway: S. Siem informs the committee that Norway does not wish to sign what it sees as a “long term” MoU as it wishes to consider the funds it has available year on year.

The committee accepts the requests from Ireland and Korea to join the ISOLDE collaboration.

11. INTC matters (P. Butler)
P. Butler informs the committee that the presentation he gave to the CERN Research Board in November 2009 was very well received and that the HIE-ISOLDE project was approved at this meeting.

The committee is told that the Scientific Policy committee has asked for presentations from ISOLDE and nTOF at its meeting in March.

P. Butler requests that ISCC members provide updates for the ISOLDE emailing list so that as wide a community as possible can be informed about HIE-ISOLDE.

12. A.O.B

• The FINUSTAR conference will be held in Rhodes from the 23^rd to the 27^th of August 2010.

The meeting ends at 13:30.