Alcator C-Mod Weekly Highlights
			December 14, 1998



The Alcator C-Mod cryostat was sealed last week and nitrogen gas flow
through the cryostat and magnets was begun.  The nitrogen, over a period
of several days, will remove nearly all water vapor from the magnet cooling
channels.  Cooldown of the machine with liquid nitrogen can then begin.
The igloo, the radiation shield surrounding the machine that also supports
many diagnostics, was also installed.   The igloo also supports many power
distribution panels and the cable hooks on which the new heater system
cabling is being run.  The Vacuum Group along with many other technicians,
students, and engineers continued to install flanges and diagnostics in
preparation for pumpdown.  Invessel work continued on the MSE diagnostic,
bolometry installation, fitups of new TTCI components, glow discharge
cabling re-installation, new MHD coil cabling, and tests of rangefinder
retro-reflectors.  Invessel alignment of various optical diagnostics was also
begun.  The installation of the new limiter probes was completed.  These
probes will allow temperature, density, and fluctuation levels at the edge
of the plasma, beyond the limiter radius, to be measured.  Invessel testing
of wall thermocouples, measurements of scanning probe positions, and periscope
alignments also made progress.  All outboard limiters have been installed,
had their first torque, and initial measurements of their position has
been made.

The new J-port antenna returned from PPPL on Saturday.  The deformation
in the support plates and Faraday shield has been fixed, and installation of
the antenna invessel has begun.  The vacuum feedthroughs have been installed
and leakchecked successfully.  The resonant loops for the D and E antennas
have also been installed.

Work has begun on bringing PLC systems for vacuum (Torvac), Cryo, interlocks
and alarms, and the power supplies back online and communicating with our
data system.  Vacuum, RGA, and Cryo data is already being logged to the
data system.

Development of the DNB and its diagnostics for C-Mod continued.
Installation of the MSE optics continued as did baking of the CXRS optical
fibers.  The periscope for the poloidal CXRS measurements was installed.
The PC board for the Mod/Reg protection crowbar was sent out for
manufacture.  Work continued on Mod/Reg electronics including the grid
drive board, cage fault monitor, and tube regulator board.

Having completed testing of the power supplies, the Power Systems Group
turned its attention to the aluminum and copper bus system that connects
the machine magnets to the power supplies.  All bus tunnel copper to aluminum
bolted connections and fittings have been removed and the contact
surfaces cleaned, re-plated and installed.  All the bus shunts have been
removed and the contacts have been cleaned.  New aluminum bus and G10 bracing
is being fabricated for the TF bus to increase the strength of the
transition region between the aluminum and copper.  As soon as the bus
system is back in operation an extensive campaign of bus instrumentation
testing and calibration will begin.

The PSFC Office of Environment, Safety, and Health now has many of its
operating procedures online.   This site provides procedures for handling
diborane, cryogenic materials, and caustics and acids, among many others.
They can be found at

		http://cmod2.pfc.mit.edu/~fiore/sopstat.html

All procedures will eventually be available online including ones for
invessel work, boronization, electroplating, and handling compressed
gases.


Travel and Visits:

A large number of scientist and Engineers from PPPL continued work
last week on a variety of projects.  Norton Bretz and Dan Simon worked
to finish installation of the MSE diagnostic.  Les Gereg and Joe Frangipani
returned with the J-port antenna and have begun installation.  Gerd
Schilling continues to work not only on the new antenna but also the
D and E antenna installations.

Ron Bravenec from UT-FRC continued work on the new BES diagnostic and John
Heard from Auburn continued to make progress on the ECE radiometer system.
Jim Weaver from the University of Maryland continued work on his
spectroscopy system last week.