Abstract :
ISIS is the world´s most powerful pulsed neutron source. Neutrons are produced when a heavy metal target is bombarded with a high energy proton beam. In less than 10 ms, these protons are accelerated from 70 MeV to 800 MeV inside a synchrotron ring before being extracted to the target. The cycle of injection, acceleration and extraction of protons occurs 50 times per second, 24 hours per day and for approximately 200 days per year. The facility, which serves an international scientific community, is currently being extended by the provision of a second target station. However, both the current and new targets are driven by an accelerator that was originally installed in the early 1980´s. The replacement of the synchrotron magnets and power supplies to ensure the extended life of the facility has now become urgent. At the same time, it is hoped to improve the overall system performance and reliability. All this has to be accomplished without disrupting the scheduled operating cycles. However, industry today is less likely to undertake technologically high risk projects than it was when the synchrotron was originally built. This paper describes the problems encountered, lessons learnt and the measures taken to reduce the risk both to manufacturer and customer alike, but which delivers a system that meets its design specification
