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by azalemeth 905 days ago
A bursting disc is commonly used -- the diameter of the quench pipe is typically around 20 - 30 cm. The gas flow rates are insane; a PRV would fail and likely still not reduce the pressure inside quickly enough.

Remember, cryostats are like Russian dolls suspended on torsion wire. You want the mass of the metal inside to be as low as possible because it forms cold bridges to the outside world and increases the boil-off rate. Quenches should not happen once the magnet leaves the factory, but until that point it's not uncommon for a machine to have several "training" quenches as the (typically NbSn or NbTi) superconducting wire effectively anneals in place. A fixable giant hole in the top (with a graphite, insulating series of bursting discs) is the approach usually taken.