Chi-Chang’s Corner

Stay Tuned for Continuing Resolution News

February 7, 2007

Chi-Chang Kao
NSLS Department Chair
kao@bnl.gov

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As many of you are aware, the biggest issue the NSLS faces at the moment involves the uncertainty of the FY07 Federal budget. Congress has passed a continuing resolution that will last through mid-February and sets funding levels for federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, to those of FY06. If the continuing resolution is kept throughout the fiscal year, there could be major consequences for the Lab and the NSLS. Facility operation time would be reduced, seriously impacting the user program, and all new construction projects would be delayed. Along with others in Lab management, I will do everything possible to avoid lay-offs. While the outcome of this funding issue and its effect on Brookhaven are still unknown, I encourage you to contact your elected officials and inform them about the potential impact to this facility.

The NSLS five-year strategic plan has been reviewed by both the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and the Science & Technology Steering Committee. Both groups gave positive feedback and valuable suggestions for improvement of the five-year-plan, which is now posted on the NSLS website. Your input is very important, so please take some time to review this document and email me by March 1 with any comments or suggestions.

Also at the SAC Meeting, held on December 1-2, the progress of a number of Participating Research Team (PRT) and all NSLS facility beamlines, including Contributing Users Programs, was reviewed. This is an important mechanism to ensure that all beamlines at the NSLS are productive and operated safely.

A concern I often hear is that there may not be enough beamlines available for users in the beginning stages of NSLS-II. In order to address this concern, we are working closely with the NSLS-II project and the DOE to develop a plan to relocate some NSLS beamlines to the new facility. We hope this plan would help accommodate a significant fraction of users during the early operation of NSLS-II.

A major safety goal we’ve set for this year is an examination of the experimental floor laboratories. We want to ensure that these labs are operated safely and are better equipped to meet the users’ needs. We are also in the process of reviewing and improving the Beam Line Operations and Safety Awareness Training (BLOSA) form to ensure that beamline-specific training for users is adequate and updated in a timely fashion.

Both storage rings are running well after a successful winter shutdown. All planned work has been completed. The main activity during the winter shutdown was the replacement of the X9 Phase I storage ring dipole vacuum chamber with a Phase II chamber designed to support a new insertion device for the X9 small angle x-ray scattering beamline. In addition, commissioning and startup of the storage rings after the shutdown was successfully carried out with the participation of new staff members who were brought in to replace staff transferred to the NSLS-II project and to ensure the continuity of expertise.

Finally, I’d like to acknowledge two NSLS employees who were honored at the BNL employee recognition awards on January 10. Richard Biscardi received a Brookhaven Award for the wide variety of technological and safety contributions he’s made to the NSLS and the Laboratory at large, and Zhong Zhong received a Science & Technology Award for leading the development of the Sagittal Focusing Laue Monochromator.

Congratulations to both of you.