ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source warms up for 2006

With the recent "warm commissioning" of its linear accelerator, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) has passed a crucial test and milestone on its way to completion in 2006.

The SNS's linear accelerator, or linac, is composed of two sections: the "warm," or room temperature section, and a superconducting section that operates at temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero. Los Alamos National Laboratory, part of the team of six DOE national laboratories collaborating on the SNS construction project, is responsible for the warm linac.

Image: The warm section will provide 20 percent of the total acceleration of the Spallation Neutron Source's linear accelerator.

"The successful commissioning of the warm linac is another step toward the 2006 completion of the SNS, and again demonstrates the success of the collaboration of national labs in keeping the project on time, on budget and on scope," said SNS Director Thom Mason.

The warm section will provide 20 percent of the total acceleration of the 1,000-foot-long linac. The linac's superconducting section, provided by the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, will provide 80 percent of linac acceleration. Testing also has begun of components of the superconducting portion, which consists of niobium cavities chilled by liquid helium to minus 456 degrees Fahrenheit.

Members of the Los Alamos SNS Division celebrated a job well done when components of the warm linac were shipped from the New Mexico laboratory to the project site in East Tennessee in April.

"Professionally, this was the job of a lifetime: being able to contribute to DOE Office of Science's biggest project," said Los Alamos SNS Division Leader Don Rej. "The excitement of working on big projects like this one comes from solving a seemingly endless string of insoluble problems, and solving them within budget and schedule constraints."

Because of their lack of charge, neutrons have a superior ability to penetrate materials. Researchers can determine a material's molecular structure by analyzing the way the neutrons bounce, or scatter, after striking atoms within the structure. Using computational methods and state of the art instruments, researchers will better understand the molecular reasons behind the materials' properties, which even with existing resources has resulted in the development of superior materials.

The SNS will produce neutrons for materials, biological and other scientific research by sending a high-energy beam of protons down a 1,000-foot linear accelerator to ultimately strike a mercury target, which will "spall" neutrons that are directed to the host of analytical instruments.

"The warm linac commissioning is significant because it verifies the performance of the entire warm linac and ensures successful operation of the entire facility," said SNS Accelerator Systems Division Director Norbert Holtkamp. "Testing of the cold linac components is time critical to allow for the transition of the tests from Jefferson Lab to ORNL, which is a major step toward the transition from construction to operation."

The SNS will increase the number of neutrons available to researchers nearly tenfold, providing clearer images of molecular structures. Combined with ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor, the SNS will represent the world's foremost facility for neutron scattering analysis, a technique pioneered at ORNL shortly after World War II.

In addition to Los Alamos and Jefferson Lab, four other national laboratories collaborate on the DOE Office of Science project: Oak Ridge, Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley and Brookhaven. Berkeley Lab has completed the "front end," where the proton beam is initially generated. Brookhaven has responsibility for the SNS's accumulator ring, a stage between the linac and target. Argonne leads the design of the facility's scientific instruments. ORNL is responsible for the target and will be responsible for operating the SNS.

When completed in 2006, SNS will become the world's leading research facility for study of the structure and dynamics of materials using neutrons. It will operate as a user facility that will enable researchers from the United States and abroad to study the science of materials that forms the basis for new technologies in energy, telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, information technology, biotechnology and health.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram laboratory managed for the Department of Energy by UT-Battelle.

Source: DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Related stories:

First neutrons produced by DOE's Spallation Neutron Source
One of the largest and most anticipated U.S. science construction projects of the past several decades has passed its most significant performance test. The Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has generated its first neutrons.
'Cold linac' commissioning major step for ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source
The Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has met a crucial milestone on its way to completion in June 2006 -- operation of the superconducting section of its linear accelerator.

Accumulator ring commissioning latest step for spallation neutron source
The Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has passed another milestone on the way to completion this year--the commissioning of the proton accumulator ring. The accumulator ring is the final step in a proton's journey through the accelerator before it strikes the SNS's mercury target, "spalling" away neutrons to be used for research.
Spallation Neutron Source Amazing Science Facts
The New Year is bringing the science community a grand present: The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. On schedule for completion in 2006, the Department of Energy's new science facility will provide researchers with the world's most powerful and most advanced tool for analyzing a host of materials with neutrons.
Software Helps Developers Get Started with PIV Cards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed two demonstration software packages that show how Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards can be used with Windows and Linux systems to perform logon, digital signing and verification, and other services. The demonstration software, written in C++, will assist software developers, system integrators and computer security professionals as they develop products and solutions in response to Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 and the FIPS 201-1 standard.
We're All Stars Now: Reality TV, Web 2.0 and Mediated Identities
A new study of television viewing and communication patterns among young adults by University at Buffalo researchers has found a relationship between reality television viewing and "promiscuous friending" on popular social networking sites such as Facebook.
I-Pod-Based Translator Provides Words, Dialects, Gestures
A company from Orlando, Florida, is hoping that its new i-Pod-based translator will be easier to use and more practical compared with more sophisticated translators, especially for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Student Facebook use predicted by race, ethnicity, education
New research from Northwestern University finds that college students’ choice of social networking sites -- including Facebook, MySpace and Xanga -- is related to their race, ethnicity and parents’ education.

News discussion:

Physics news