LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
At the National Ignition Facility (NIF), achieving fusion ignition for the first time ever in a laboratory required one of the most complex hardware control systems in the world. With approximately 1,200 control racks, 66,000 control points, and 100, 000 cables, maintaining the NIF control system requires an exquisite choreography around experimental operations while adhering to NIF’s safety, security, quality, and efficiency requirements. To ensure systems operate at peak performance and remain available at all times to avoid costly delays, preventative maintenance activities are performed two days per week as the foundation of our effective maintenance strategy. Reactive maintenance addresses critical path issues that impact experimental operations through a rapid response 24x7 on-call support team. Prioritized work requests are reviewed and approved daily by the facility operations scheduling team. NIF is now in the second decade of operations, and the aging of many control systems is threatening to affect performance and availability, potentially impacting planned progress of the fusion ignition program. The team is embarking on a large-scale refurbishment of systems to mitigate this threat. Our robust maintenance program will ensure NIF can capitalize on ignition and push the facility to even greater achievements. This paper will describe the processes, procedures, and metrics used to plan, coordinate, and perform controls hardware maintenance at NIF.
LLNL Release Number: LLNL-ABS-848420
