[Sneap] Turbo pump repair

[Stephen Marino]

We have a Varian V-700HT turbo pump that needs to have its bearings 
replaced. The pump has permanently lubricated ceramic bearings. I 
believe it has dry lubrication - no oil or grease. We have, in the past, 
run high currents of beam onto titanium targets loaded with tritium and 
consequently still have some tritium in the vacuum system. Wipe samples 
of the inlet of the pump showed 2300 dpm of tritium contamination while 
the outlet of the pump had only 205 dpm (New York City considers an item 
with a measurements of <1000 dpm/100cm2 to be releasable to uncontrolled 
areas.). Simple wiping with alcohol reduced these measurements to 350 
and 50 dpm, respectively. Unfortunately, we can't take wipe sample 
within the pump without disassembling it even if we can decontaminate it.

Varian Vacuum will repair the pump, but it will take 6-8 weeks and cost 
over $4k. Does anyone know of a company, other than Varian, who will 
rebuild pumps with radioactive contamination?

Alternatively, has anyone tried decontaminating a pump without 
dismantling it?

Steve Marino

-- 
Stephen A. Marino
Manager
RARAF
Columbia University
P. O. Box 21/ 136 S. Broadway
Irvington, NY  10533
Tel.:  914-591-9244         Fax: 914-591-9405
http://www.raraf.org/