ALSNews is a biweekly electronic newsletter to keep users and other interested parties informed about developments at the Advanced Light Source, a national user facility located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California. To be placed on the mailing list, send your name and complete internet address to ALSNews@lbl.gov. We welcome suggestions for topics and content.

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ALSNews           Vol. 56           July 10, 1996

Table of Contents


    1. OPERATIONS UPDATE
    2. NEW ALS POLICY - USERS NO LONGER NEED DOSIMETERS (FILM BADGES)
    3. T-SHIRT ARTWORK NEEDED

1. OPERATIONS UPDATE
(contact: rmmiller@lbl.gov)

Beam availability for the last two weeks was 87.8% overall and 90% for user shifts. A number of stored beam trips were caused by Beamline 6.3 photon-stop-position indication faults during the week. A possible cause for the faults may have been a bad air solenoid coil which was replaced during maintenance on Monday. Several brief interruptions were caused by low conductivity cooling water flow, and one magnet power supply failed at startup and was replaced by a ready spare.

Operations Summary for July 10 - July 29

July 10, 00:00- July 15, 07:15  1.9-GeV/260-mA/320-bunch user operations
July 15, 07:30-24:00            Maintenance & Startup
July 16, 00:00-24:00            Accelerator Physics
July 17, 00:00-08:00            User Scrubbing & Special Operations
July 17, 08:00- July 22, 07:15  1.9-GeV/260-mA/320-bunch user operations
July 22, 07:30- July 23, 24:00  Maintenance & Startup
July 24, 00:00-24:00            Accelerator Physics
July 25, 00:00-08:00            User Scrubbing & Special Operations
July 24, 08:00- July 29, 07:15  1.5-GeV/400-mA/320-bunch user operations

Weekly operations scheduling meetings: Fridays at 3:30 p.m. in the Building 6 conference room. The Accelerator Status Hotline at (510) 486-6766 (ext. 6766 from Lab phones) features a recorded message giving up-to-date information on the operational status of the accelerator.

2. NEW ALS POLICY - USERS NO LONGER NEED DOSIMETERS (FILM BADGES)
(contact: kmheinzelman@lbl.gov)

Effective July 1, ALS users and staff who work in the ALS experiment floor area are no longer required to wear dosimeters (film badges). This change is based on careful examination of data collected from ALS dosimeters and radiation area monitors over the past three years. The data show that radiation exposures are so low in the experiment floor area that there is no technical justification for continuing to badge everyone at the ALS. However, as before, the ALS building is a Controlled Access Area for radiation protection, and users must complete safety training (ALS User Radiation Awareness Training and the ALS Safety Video) for non-restricted access to the ALS experiment floor area. You still need a key to get into the building.

According to ALS Director Brian Kincaid, "The fact that we are able to maintain such low radiation exposures on the experiment floor is a significant step. This is a tribute to carefully designed shielding and the smooth operation of our machine. The ALS will continue its policy of constantly monitoring radiation levels throughout the ALS and fixing any problems in an expedient manner." Dosimeters will be issued to electronics maintenance technicians, survey and alignment staff, operators, and users of the beam-test-facility (BTF) because they might spend more than 10% of their time in potential radiation areas (inside the storage ring wall, on top of the storage ring shielding during injection, or near the booster). Anyone uncomfortable with not being badged may request a dosimeter, please contact Keith Heinzelman (ext. 6212).

What EXISTING USERS need to know: Users do not need to wear dosimeters (film badges). (Exception: users working at the BTF facility do need to wear dosimeters.) Anyone who wants to wear a dosimeter will be issued one, please contact Keith Heinzelman (ext. 6212). As before, users are not allowed on top of the storage ring shielding and in the linac and booster area.

What NEW USERS need to know: For unrestricted access into the ALS experiment area, all users are required to take ALS User Radiation Awareness Training and watch the ALS Safety Video when checking in at the Berkeley Lab Reception Center (Building 65). Please contact ALS EH&S Program Manager Georgeanna Perdue (ext. 7407) if you need more information.

What EVERYONE needs to know about taking visitors into the ALS building: Because the ALS building is a Controlled Access Area for radiation protection, all visitors who have not taken ALS safety training must register in Building 2, room 400B, have a visitor badge, and be escorted at all times. Users who would like to escort visitors in the ALS Building must read Procedure HP 02-01 (available in the control room; in Building 2, room 400B; or the ALS Procedure Center in Building 80A) and sign a documentation sheet. The visitor access procedure has been updated to be consistent with the new dosimetry policy. Retraining is not required for those who have been trained in the previous version, since the revised procedure is less restrictive.

Maintenance contractors or others who need unescorted access over a short period of time should contact Keith Heinzelman (ext. 6212) for Radiation Awareness Training, access information, and to receive an identification badge which identifies the person as an unescorted short-term visitor.

Children under 18 may now visit the ALS experiment area while the machine is operating; the rules for escorted visitors apply.

3. T-SHIRT ARTWORK NEEDED
(contact: jccross@lbl.gov)

The deadline for the 2nd annual ALS T-Shirt Design Contest is July 20 - so please send in some ideas soon! The winner will have his or her signed artwork featured on T-shirts for participants at this year's ALS Users' Association Meeting (October 21-22).

T-shirt designs should be no larger than 22 cm high by 28 cm wide (8.5 by 11 inches) and should use four or fewer colors. Rough drawings or concepts are acceptable as well as more polished artwork. The words "Advanced Light Source" or "ALS" must appear somewhere in the design. Send your designs to

Jane Cross
Advanced Light Source
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MS 2-400
1 Cyclotron Road
Berkeley, CA 94720