Kowari and Koala
Kowari (strain scanner)
On 18 June, Kowari obtained its first real signal from the detector during the radiation surveys at 5 MW. During the last couple of weeks a lot of effort was put into the mechanical assembly of this strain scanner. Work included for example polishing of the granite dance-floor, assembling components, installing the detector or running cables; a great team effort.
On Friday, June 15th 2007, a simple steel pin was put on the aligned instrument to act as a sample and on the following Monday, 18 June 2007, a first detector spectrum was obtained.
The spectrum was taken during some low-power radiation surveys at 5 MW. Some 13,000 events were recorded. Since then further alignments and additional tests were carried out at 20 MW resulting in the latest spectrum taken on 26 June 2007. During the scan some 40,000 events were recorded in 60 seconds. Over the next months the instrument will be further tested before applying for its license. Once the licensing process is finished the instrument will be available to the user community.
Koala (quasi-Laue diffractometer)
Koala has had a safe journey back to France and is presently undergoing a refit and repair operation which appears to be proceeding well. We hope that Koala will be back with us in October ready for commissioning to proceed.