Myriad Ways in Which Things Could Have Gone Wrong but Did Not

The Variable Energy Cyclotron Center (VECC) at Kolkata has a K130 room-temperature cyclotron that has been operating since 1977, a K500 Cyclotron operating since 2009, a K30 medical cyclotron and a radioactive ion beam facililty. It has a large number of very high voltage or very high current power supplies, liquid helium plants, and very many vacuum pumps sophisticated and delicate equipment. Yet, in the last more than 5 decades of its operation there have been no serious accidents or leakage of radioactivity. This has been possible by a strict regime of retraining and strict adherence to standard security precaution, and an active and understanding leadership. This chapter describes some of these efforts.