Hongping Jiang

Beam halo, beam dynamics, monochromatization, particle accelerator design, microwave, Anarchism, teacher!

[Hongping Jiang @jianghongping]

happy new year

[Richard A. Amos, CPhys, CSci, FIPEM @proton_therapy]

Call for members:
For those of you involved in particle therapy physics across Europe and beyond, please join the EFOMP Particle Therapy Special Interest Group (SIG) Link to join here: https://t.co/0JwtXUzOau
⁦@EFOMP_org⁩ #MedPhys

[Cata Paul 🃏‍‍‍ @CataPaul2]

What happened in Spain yesterday? On April 28, 2025, Spain witnessed a major energy event: a nationwide blackout.

What was the cause? A massive overload of the electrical grid due to a huge spike in solar production.

What happened?

At around 11:00 AM, Spain’s solar power production reached a record peak of over 20 GW – a huge amount, rapidly injected into the grid in a very short period of time.

Normally, the electrical grid maintains a fine balance between production and consumption, in order to keep the frequency constant at 50 Hz. But today, the solar peak seriously disrupted this balance.

How did the collapse occur?

1. Solar energy flood:
Solar panels delivered a huge excess of current, dramatically reducing the need for energy from conventional power plants (gas, hydro, nuclear).

2. Turbine acceleration:

-Conventional power plants (especially gas and hydro) are equipped with turbines that rotate synchronously with the grid at 50 Hz.

-When energy demand drops suddenly (because solar energy covers all consumption), these turbines cannot slow down instantly.

-On the contrary: being still mechanically driven by engines or the flow of water, they begin to accelerate spontaneously.

3. Frequency increase:
-This acceleration leads to an increase in the grid frequency above 50 Hz.
-From a small imbalance, the frequency began to climb towards 50.5 Hz, 51 Hz or even more.

4. Confirmation of the phenomenon:
Further analyses showed that immediately after the solar peak, the energy injected into the grid by gas and hydro turbines increased sharply. This behavior confirms the theory of turbine acceleration and frequency increase:

-the turbines, having accumulated mechanical energy and sensing a decrease in load, injected even more energy into the grid, which amplified the imbalance and accelerated the collapse.

5. Activation of protections:
The electrical grid has automatic systems that protect equipment. If the frequency goes outside the safe range (usually 49.5–50.5 Hz), automatic disconnections begin:

-power plants are shut down,
-sections of the grid are cut,
-entire areas are isolated to prevent catastrophic damage.

6. Generalized collapse:
Because the system was unable to compensate for the surplus energy quickly enough, protections were triggered in a cascade, leading to the collapse of the electricity supply in almost all of Spain, Portugal and the south of France.

Why was the system unable to control the frequency?

Although modern grids have:

-Smart inverters (which can regulate the current),

-Fast Frequency Response batteries,

-Automatic generation reduction systems (AGC),
-their capacity was not enough to handle:
-the huge size of the solar peak (20 GW is enormous),
-the speed with which the surplus energy entered the grid,
-the lack of real mechanical inertia (which renewables do not offer).

Simply put:
Electronics can regulate the frequency in small and slow variations. But in a brutal energy shock, like today, only the mechanical mass of the turbines can stabilize the grid, and this has been overcome.

Spain already has a high percentage of renewable energy, which, paradoxically, makes the grid more fragile if there are not enough:

-huge batteries,

-high-capacity hydro pumps,

-fast export lines to France or other countries.

These are problems that we have publicly anticipated, including for Romania, that very violent photo and wind fluctuations can strongly disrupt the grid of conventional sources that have a different rhythm, a different inertia!!!! It is a fragile balance that can be especially supported with huge batteries or high-capacity export lines! Let's learn from such huge problems!!!

[Pope Francis – ARCHIVE @Pontifex266Arch]

I would like us to renew our hope that #peace is possible! From the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Resurrection, where this year #Easter is being celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox on the same day, may the light of peace radiate throughout the Holy Land and the entire world.

[Dr Hywel Owen @hywelowen]

3rd edition has arrived

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe.

[Zion Lights @ziontree]

Nuclear is a proven substitute

[André David @DrAndreDavid]

Can be seen in real time and for free at @CERN's Science Gateway.

[The Nobel Prize @NobelPrize]

Remembering physicist Lev Landau who was born 117 years ago #OTD.

He received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of a mathematical theory of superfluidity that accounts for the properties of liquid helium II at a temperature below 2.17 K (−270.98°C).

[American Physical Society @APSphysics]

A study in @PRX_Life shows animal #magnetoreception may approach the #quantum energy resolution limit, linking magnetic sensitivity to Planck’s constant.

Read more: https://t.co/rsPhM3aTFt

[IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ @iaeaorg]

Radiotherapy has been used since the 1890s and is one of the most common cancer treatments.
Read our #NuclearExplained article to learn about the different types of radiotherapy, medical imaging and our role in #CancerCare4All.
👉 https://t.co/rZMRDZSITw

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Population collapse

[Argonne National Lab @argonne]

Welcome to 2025: The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology!

At Argonne, we're leading the charge in quantum information research, unlocking the mysteries of nature at its smallest scales.

Check out our website to learn more ➡️ https://t.co/qEbGZriuiW.

[Hongping Jiang @jianghongping]

Happy new year!

[European Commission @EU_Commission]

It’s time for THE charger.

Today, the USB-C becomes officially the common standard for charging electronic devices in the EU.

It means better-charging technology, reduced e-waste, and less fuss to find the chargers you need.

#DigitalEU

[Richard A. Amos, CPhys, CSci, FIPEM @proton_therapy]

TAE Life Sciences and CNAO Announce Definitive Agreement on BNCT, a Next-Generation Cancer Therapy | ⁦@taelifesciences⁩ #BNCT https://t.co/s4lZmZyr1P

[Bojan Tunguz @tunguz]

It’s true.

[CERN @CERN]

Here we see the new version of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) scraper, a protection system that uses two movable graphite blades to scrape the halo of the proton beam – particles hovering outside the beam – before its injection into the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The high-luminosity upgrade of the LHC will result in brighter beams and thus will require improved injection protection systems. #HiLumiLHC

Find out more about CERN’s particle accelerators:
https://t.co/lEqlGqbgmz