Renovation of the Nuclear Physics Lab

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9214358 Guzman The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Physics and Astronomy requests funds to renovate and upgrade the Nuclear Physics Laboratory (NPL) into a modernized facility that will support high, intermediate, and nuclear energy, and solid state physics. The present facility, constructed in 1964, houses a three-stage Van de Graaff accelerator that has not been in operation since 1989. With the termination of the Van de Graaff program, approximately 50% of the facility has been used by 50% of the research faculty. Though underutilized and in need of renovation, the Nuclear Physics Laboratory has basic utilities and special features that make it ideal for a modernized laboratory. Research programs, currently located in Allen Hall, a substandard and overcrowded building, will be moved to the NPL once renovations are completed. In addition to refurbishing laboratory space, renovations will include the removal of the Van de Graaff accelerators and two large magnets, chemical and radioactive decontamination, and the installation of additional chemical handling facilities. Clean room facilities, necessary for the development of silicon detectors and for wire chamber development, will be installed. The renovations will provide functional laboratory space that will enhance interaction among faculty, quality research training for students, and the ability to conduct experimental projects that are too large or demanding of existing facilities.