March Update

March saw continuation of work on the major components of the PT system. Varian continued a major focus on electrical cabling, by far the most labor intensive of all the installation tasks, while focusing also on major system turn-ons and completions.

Cabling in the main power supply rooms on the upper floors progressed, with Varian taking power from the bus bar (the main power source from the utilities into the building) and connecting to the power supplies used to power each magnet along the beamline. The cabling was also pulled from the power supplies to the magnets themselves. This amounts to hundreds of miles of total cabling that all has to be pulled, cut, terminated, connected and tested. This work has progressed to the point that it does not cause any risk to Varian's critical path activities.

With the major components completely installed on the gantries, Haskell was able to place the precast concrete panels on top of the Gantries. This is one major step towards closing the shielded volume, which is needed for Varian to safely generate beam. Work is also progressing on putting in place the block walls in the beamline and at the transition between treatment rooms and beamline. Many wall segments could not be poured in place with the initial construction to allow space for major equipment installation. That work is now being completed by placing high-density concrete blocks in place, a very labor intensive manual task. This work is necessary to provide a safe environment for patients, staff and visitors to the center.

This month Varian also got the facility's Personnel Protection System up and running. This is a series of electronic safeguards that are necessary to ensure safe operation of the cyclotron. This system is required to be in place before Varian can generate a proton beam with the cyclotron, which will produce neutron radiation.

Varian was focused on radiation safety this month because they have been able to get the cyclotron up to its full power that is required to generate a proton beam. This is a complex task as the power must be generated as a very high power radiofrequency wave and must be transmitted through a large gauge vacuum tube called a RF Transmission line, or waveguide, which takes the power from the 2nd floor Cyclotron electrical room into the cyclotron itself. Both the RF Amplifier, which generates the high power, and the Cyclotron are very sensitive, so the power must be brought up in a slow and measured way. Varian was successful in getting to max power this month, and was able to generate a proton beam within the Cyclotron itself. Now their challenge is to successfully accelerate this proton beam and then extract it from the cyclotron and into the beamline. This will be the focus of their operations in the coming month.

The coming month will also see the continuation of the cabling of the power supplies and beamline components, which will be critical in later phases of the project. Varian also expects to take delivery and install the patient positioning robots, as well as continue assembly of the smaller parts of the gantries and fixed beam rooms. Throughout April major elements of the patient environment will be put in place and the treatment rooms will start to resemble how they will look when patient treatment is ready to take place.