Six hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment from TRIUMF was recently shipped on a vessel from Vancouver and bound for Tokai, Japan. Members of TRIUMF’s Remote Handling group packaged and sent an important contribution to the T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) Neutrino Oscillation experiment at the J-PARC facility in Japan. The 4m-tall focus-monitor stack was designed and built at TRIUMF; the stack will control the position and intensity of a neutrino beam, as well as guide the beam to the target.
In addition to the focus monitor, the design for the experiment’s hot cell was influenced by a collaboration of TRIUMF remote-handling specialists and researchers from the UK’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Currently travelling aboard the Glen Canyon Bridge is the 40-foot container carrying components for assembling the monitor stack, a pillow seal for remote handling, shielding, and remote manipulators for the hot cell.
In August, TRIUMF remote-handling specialists Clive Mark and Mike Gallop will follow the shipment to Tokai, Japan and assist in the assembly and installation of the TRIUMF-contributed parts. “Many of the remote handling techniques used in this target hall are modeled after TRIUMF’s ISAC and Meson Hall target area experience,” says Ewart Blackmore, Coordinator for TRIUMF’s J-PARC contribution. “The Remote Handling group at TRIUMF has made an important contribution to the design of the neutrino target station at J-PARC.”
The T2K experiment seeks to study the elusive properties of neutrinos. The experiment will be conducted by producing an artificial neutrino beam from a high-intensity proton accelerator located in Tokai. The neutrinos will then travel underground from Tokai to Kamioka, which is a distance of 295 kilometers.
Neutrinos are fundamental particles that are emitted during certain types of radioactive decay. Most neutrinos come from nuclear reactions that occur in the sun and stream toward the Earth. These neutrinos naturally pass through the earth and humans every day. Understanding the basic properties of neutrinos and how they interact with one another will shed light on the earliest moments of the universe.
Photo Caption (from right to left): Akira Konaka (Canadian spokesperson for T2K, TRIUMF), Mike Gallop (TRIUMF), Clive Mark (TRIUMF), T2K participant, T2K participant, Yochiura Yamada (KEK).
By Nicole Dublanko
TRIUMF's Communications Assistant