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The Spallation neutron source at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached its operational power design level by executing a 1.4 megawatt neutron production cycle. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The Spallation neutron source from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory of the Department of Energy broke a new record by ending its first neutron production cycle in fiscal year 2019 at its nominal power level. 1.4 megawatts.
Higher power provides more neutrons for researchers using this facility to study a wide range of materials. This achievement marks a new operational milestone for neutron diffusion in the United States and opens the door to the study of much smaller and complex materials.
"The operation of the SNS at 1.4 megawatts during this cycle has been a remarkable achievement," said Paul Langan, deputy director of the laboratory for neutron science. "This reflects the maturity of our facilities and the high level of technical excellence of our technical, operational and scientific staff."
The increase in power has been made possible by the combination of significant improvements made to the linear accelerator, including the recent replacement of the radio frequency quadrupole, the first structure of the accelerator. front end of the accelerator, as well as improvements to the liquid mercury target. The incorporation of target vessel modifications, such as the injection of helium bubble gas into the mercury flux of the target, has greatly reduced the stresses induced by the immense pulses at high beam energy. In addition, the SNS operations team implemented a target management plan developed in 2016 that paves the way for greater power by leveraging three targets per year for sustainable reliability.
Built in 2006, SNS is a unique pulsed neutron scattering facility that provides advanced capabilities to thousands of researchers around the world to study energy and materials at the atomic scale.
The installation produces neutrons by launching protons in a linear accelerator and a liquid mercury target. Upon impact, a "burst" of neutrons is created, which is then sent to the surrounding high-power instruments. Neutrons scatter atoms in a sample, revealing fundamental information about the behavior of atoms in the system and the distance that separates them.
The scientific discoveries made possible by neutrons at SNS include unprecedented information on the exotic behavior of the Majorana magnetic fermion – a promising building block for topological quantum computing; the attenuation of air pollution by characterizing the ability of an organometallic framework material to remove the harmful nitrogen dioxide from the atmosphere; and unpublished experiments performing real-time in situ measurements on a running gas engine.
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SNS completes full neutron production cycle at record power
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