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Introduction

Most of the world's neutron sources were built decades ago, and although the uses and demand for neutrons have increased throughout the years, few new sources have been built. But now the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science has funded the construction of a new, accelerator-based neutron source, the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), which will provide the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development. These "About SNS" pages describe what neutrons are and what unique properties make them useful for science. They describe how SNS is designed to produce neutron beams and the experimental instruments that will use those beams. Finally, they describe how past neutron research has affected our everyday lives and what we might expect from the most exciting future applications.

As the needs of our high-technology society
have advanced, so have our demands for
new materials that are stronger, lighter,
and cheaper yet perform well
under severe conditions.

As the needs of our high-technology society have advanced, so have our demands for new materials that are stronger, lighter, and cheaper yet perform well under severe conditions. More than ever, major research facilities, such as X-ray and neutron sources, are used to understand and "engineer" materials at the atomic level. Such materials have greatly improved properties offering both better performance and new applications. A few examples follow.

Our electronic devices require smaller and faster components. Commercial and military aircraft as well as our space probes need new lighter alloys and stronger welds for increased speed using less fuel. Automobiles are using more high-temperature materials, lightweight alloys, and plastics to become more fuel efficient and less polluting. Computers require ever-increasing storage capacity using magnetic materials. New high-temperature superconducting materials promise more efficient motors and power transmission. And designer drugs and genetic engineering are revolutionizing medicine and health care. As the following pages illustrate, neutron-scattering research plays an important role in all these areas and more.

Powerful neutron beams will be produced in
the SNS facility by bombarding a mercury
target with energetic protons from
a large accelerator complex.

Powerful neutron beams will be produced in the SNS facility by bombarding a mercury target with energetic protons from a large accelerator complex. The protons will excite the mercury nuclei in a reaction process called spallation, releasing neutrons that are formed into beams and guided to neutron instruments. Using these sophisticated instruments, up to 50 of which will exist when SNS is fully operational, scientists and engineers will explore the most intimate structural details of a vast array of novel materials.

Map showing lab partnerships SNS was designed and built as a partnership among six DOE national labs: Lawrence Berkeley in California, Los Alamos in New Mexico, Argonne in Illinois, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, Brookhaven in New York, and Jefferson in Virginia.

To design and construct SNS, a partnership was organized among six DOE national laboratories (Argonne, Brookhaven, Jefferson, Lawrence Berkeley, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge). Such an extensive partnership is a new approach to building a major DOE facility and a model for the future. The SNS project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has responsibility for managing the partnership, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for ultimately operating SNS, and the other participating laboratories for designing, constructing, and integrating their parts of the source into the final facility. This partnership approach allows access to the best technical expertise and most current technologies available, enabling a design and construction process that makes the most efficient use of DOE laboratory staff and resources.

SNS, designed with the future in
mind, will be the leading neutron research
facility for many years to come.

SNS was completed on scheduled in 2006. Like other DOE facilities, SNS will be a user facility open to scientists and engineers from universities, industries, and government laboratories in the United States and from foreign countries. The user community has specified the performance parameters for SNS and will design and use its instruments. SNS, which is designed with the future in mind, will be the leading neutron research facility for many years to come.

—Thom Mason, Associate Laboratory Director, Spallation Neutron Source

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About SNS - What is SNS

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Introduction

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Importance of Neutron Science

 


What Is a Neutron?
Properties of Neutrons
What Is Spallation?
Why Is Neutron Scattering Useful to Researchers?

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Benefits of Neutron Science: How Does It Affect Our Lives?

 


Transportation
Manufacturing
Plastics
Medicine
Environment
Electronics
Engineering

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Why Build SNS?

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How Does SNS Work?

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Who Will Use SNS?

 

 
  Information Contact : neutronscience@ornl.gov  

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Office of Science