Jotne helps CERN maintain extreme temperatures

"This confirms our position as a leading manufacturer of pressure vessels and low temperature storage tanks," comments managing director Ole Martin Moe of Jotne SB-Verksted in Drammen.

The four vessels will be used in the Atlas project for particle physics, which uses a circular tunnel 27 km long as a particle accelerator.

Two of the pressure vessels are to be used for liquid argon, which must be kept at a temperature of -175°C. To achieve this, a constant flow of liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -195°C is needed. The two other vessels will be used for the liquid nitrogen supply.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Department of Physics at the University of Oslo are both participating in the ATLAS Project. The Jotne Group is cooperating with SINTEF for the delivery to CERN.

The four vessels will be vacuum insulated with double walls. Each will be 50 cubic meters in size. Delivery is scheduled for the summer of 2001 for the first tank and summer 2002 for the remaining three.

Jotne SB-Verksted has previously supplied CERN with pressure vessels for helium. A vacuum insulated tank for cryogenic service has previously been delivered to the Troll C platform.