[Sneap] Unattended operation of accelerators [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Needham, Vince]

We have conducted unattended operations of our EN tandem for many
years, so long as the equipment isn't being strained and no radiation
safety hazards exist. Our formal policy is this:

1. If an operation produces an area with a radiation level greater than 2 
mrem/hr (other than the area inside the Tandem tank chains and inside 
the LINAC shielding wall), at least one person familiar with the operation 
must be in the lab during the operation.

2. If the Tandem accelerator terminal voltage is greater than 5 MV, at least 
one person familiar with Tandem operations must be in the laboratory during
accelerator operations.

3. If none of the items above apply, then the operation may be left unattended 
provided that a method for contacting the person responsible for the operation 
is posted on the status board.

Over the years our ability to remotely monitor the accelerators and the
experiments has improved dramatically, but in the beginning consisted of
nothing more than an Apple II computer with a modem. If the beam current
on target disappeared for more than ten minutes, the computer called a
graduate student and the modem squealed in his ear.

--
Vincent Needham - http://jrm.phys.ksu.edu
JR Macdonald Lab, Physics Department
Kansas State University 
Manhattan, Ks  66506-2604