Hahn Shot First

After 32 years as Fermilab’s staff photographer, Reidar Hahn is retiring – and saying farewell with a final collection of photos in Fermilab’s art gallery. Hahn has graciously allowed CSA to display some of his best work in future issues of Cold Facts and a CSA online photo gallery.

Cool and Dry: A Revolutionary Method for Cooling a Superconducting Accelerator Cavity at Fermilab

For the first time, a team at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (CSA CSM) has cooled and operated a superconducting radio-frequency cavity—a crucial component of superconducting particle accelerators using cryogenic refrigerators—with cryocoolers, breaking the tradition of cooling cavities by immersing them in a bath of liquid helium. It achieved an accelerating gradient of 6.6 million volts per meter.

Department of Energy Authorizes LNG Exports from the Venture Global Plaquemines Project

The US Department of Energy issued an order to Venture Global Plaquemines LNG, LLC approving exports of domestically produced liquefied natural gas from the Plaquemines LNG Project. The project will be located on the Mississippi River, in Plaquemines Parish LA approximately 20 miles from the port of New Orleans. Under the order, Plaquemines LNG will be authorized to export up to 3.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas as LNG from the proposed Plaquemines LNG project.

US ATLAS Phase I Upgrade Completed at CERN

The ATLAS experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is ready to begin another chapter in its search for new physics. A significant upgrade to the experiment, the ATLAS Phase I Upgrade, has received Critical Decision-4 approval from the US Department of Energy, signifying the completion of the US portion of the project and a transition to operations.

In Memoriam: David Pegg

Former president of the Society for Cryobiology, Dr. David Pegg has died at 86. Pegg helped set up the international Society for Cryobiology in 1964, and start its journal, Cryobiology, of which he later became editor in chief, eventually becoming the society’s president from 1974-75. A pioneer in the field of low temperature biology, he made perhaps his greatest contribution through research into the preservation of human kidneys, which he began in 1965.

KEK Publishes the International Working Group’s Recommendations for International Linear Collider

KEK has received the International Working Group’s report of recommendations regarding the International Linear Collider (ILC) project and published a document, “Recommendations on ILC Project Implementation," outlining the suggestions. The report calls for cost-sharing programs for the civil engineering projects, accelerator components, conventional facilities construction and operating costs. It goes on to suggest the establishment of a preparatory laboratory to coordinate tasks needed before the construction of the ILC, including governmental negotiations.

World’s First Hydrogen Powered Boat Docks in London

The world's first hydrogen powered boat has docked in London, the last stop of its European tour. The 30-meter Energy Observer acts as a “floating lab” for testing green maritime technology. It harnesses electricity from three renewable energies¬¬¬–hydrogen, solar and wind–to propel the boat and charge its batteries. Using this electricity, the vessel has sailed to 25 countries at 18,000 nautical miles since leaving Saint-Malo, France in 2017.

SOFIA Soars to Observe the Universe

SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a unique plane-based observatory housed inside a 747 aircraft. A joint project between NASA, Universities Space Research Association, and the German Aerospace Center-DLR since 1997, it takes advantage of the stratosphere to eliminate the absorbing effect atmospheric water has on infrared observations. Operated and maintained by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale CA, its mission is to observe the universe and understand the formation and evolutionary mechanisms of stars, galaxies, planets and everything in between. CSA recently spoke with Dejan Stevanovic, lead systems engineer for SOFIA, about the current experiments and status of the flying observatory.

Cryogenics Takes Center Stage for PIP-II at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Construction of the Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) is underway at Fermi National Laboratory (CSA CSM) in Batavia IL. Since the groundbreaking ceremony on March 15, the laboratory team has been preparing for the beam that will contribute to international high energy physics research experiments. The superconducting radio-frequency (SRF)-powered linear accelerator will also power the lab’s flagship project, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). It will send trillions of neutrino particles 800 miles through the earth to the four-story high detector that’s part of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) currently being built a mile beneath the surface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead SD.

Cryoablation of Breast Cancer Cells Offers Non-Invasive Option

Breast cancer patients at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles have a promising cryogenic option to significant intrusive surgeries thanks to cryoablation. Dr. Peter Julien, chief of thoracic imaging and tumor ablation at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center at Cedars-Sinai, has been conducting a study using cryoablation to treat low risk breast cancers, avoiding traditional surgical, radiation and chemotherapy treatment.