The U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is expecting a 95-ton coldbox delivery from Sassenage, France. A 55-by-14-foot cryogenic vessel coldbox will soon arrive at the lab after a two-month voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, passage up the Mississippi River and a slow, carfeul drive via interstate to Batavia, Illinois.
At the Port of Marseille-Fos, France, the coldbox was transferred from a barge to the transport ship for its transatlantic trip to the Port of New Orleans in the United States. Credit: Air Liquide Advanced Technologies
The coldbox will be at the heart of the cryogenic system for the Proton Improvement Plan-II, the project providing significant upgrades to the particle accelerator complex at Fermilab, including a new state-of-the-art linear accelerator. The accelerator will make use of the latest advances in superconducting radio-frequency technologies. But for it to work, the accelerating structures must be kept extremely cold — near the temperature of outer space.
Cryogenics will play a vital role in cooling the superconducting components in the PIP-II accelerator. The coldbox is one piece of the PIP-II cryogenic plant, which is being provided as an in-kind contribution from the Department of Atomic Energy in India — the single largest external contribution to the PIP-II project. The cryogenic plant was built thanks to the combined efforts of the Fermilab and DAE teams on all phases of the project, from technical specifications and design to construction follow-up and, finally, delivery.
The journey
The coldbox, assembled at the Air Liquide Advanced Technologies workshop in Sassenage, France, departed for its journey on Oct. 14. A week later it was loaded onto a transport ship on the southern French coast for its 25-day cross-Atlantic trip to the Port of New Orleans in the United States.
The coldbox, assembled in France, is being provided as an in-kind contribution from the Department of Atomic Energy in India. Credit: Air Liquide Advanced Technologies
After arrival at the Port of New Orleans in late November, the coldbox was transferred to a river barge for transport up the Mississippi River to Romeoville, Illinois, where it will be offloaded onto a 277-foot-long heavy-haul truck. The coldbox will be driven at 10 miles-per-hour to Fermilab, where it will be carefully moved to a smaller, more maneuverable trailer for the drive across the laboratory campus to the PIP-II site. Crews will install the coldbox inside its new home in the new PIP-II Cryogenic Plant Building.
The coldbox departed from France mid-October and will arrive at Fermilab on December 16. After a two-month voyage by ocean river and interstate, the public is welcome to see the final transport of the 95-ton coldbox to the new accelerator complex at Fermilab. Credit: Cynthia Gonzalez, Fermilab
Visitors are invited to Fermilab to see the coldbox delivery from a public viewing area at Wilson Hall. The viewing event is scheduled for January 7 from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. but is subject to change based on extreme weather. Confirmation or updates on the delivery will be posted to the website 48 hours prior to the event.
The coldbox’s journey to Fermilab was chronicled on the PIP-II website and on Fermilab’s Facebook and X/Twitter. Those interested in attending the January 7 coldbox event should check the website and follow Fermilab on Facebook and X/Twitter for the most up-to-date status of the delivery.
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