High Rigidity Spectrometer moves closer to Critical Decision 2/3a approval following two independent reviews
The High Rigidity Spectrometer (HRS) project recently underwent two independent reviews: A Director’s Review of HRS was held 15-16 July in preparation for the DOE-SC Office of Project Assessment (OPA) Project Review of HRS held 31 August – 2 September.
Both reviews were held through remote participation. The purpose of the director's review was to prepare the project team for the DOE-SC OPA review. The purpose of the DOE-SC OPA review was to assess the HRS project status and progress since the DOE-SC Critical Decision-1 (CD-1) review in April 2020 and CD-1 approval in September 2020.
The director's review committee thanked the HRS team for giving well-prepared and clear presentations of the status of the project, which gave updates of the achievements and changes since CD1. The committee members said they appreciated the remarkable progress the project made so far in all areas of technical scope, and the advancements toward CD-2/3a.
The DOE-SC OPA review committee found that the project is making good technical progress toward the next critical decision (CD-2/3a). The committee members also highlighted some areas requiring further refinement, providing the FRIB team a path forward to CD-2/3a approval.
Both committees emphasized that a timely completion of the HRS project is critically important to realize FRIB’s full scientific potential.
HRS will substantially increase FRIB’s scientific reach and productivity. Experiments with HRS will greatly increase the sensitivity of the scientific program at FRIB, in particular for experiments with the most neutron-rich isotopes that have the highest potential for discovery.
HRS achieved CD-0 in November 2018, confirming the mission need. HRS achieved CD-1 in September 2020, confirming that a preferred alternative had been selected (following the analysis of multiple alternatives) and that the team was ready to proceed with engineering and design.
The HRS team is proposing a review next summer.