This Is
No Small Thing

In the summer of 2005, Oak Ridge National Laboratory hosted a delegation of European scientists who came to visit and assess the capabilities of the soon-to-be-completed Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). After two days of inspection, the delegation met late one afternoon with the SNS leadership for a final discussion. In a single brief statement, the Europeans summed up the significance of the SNS. "America now has the greatest facility in the world for the study of materials."

This issue of the ORNL Review tells the story of how this marvelous facility came to be and how the discoveries that take place at the SNS will strengthen America's competitive position within the world economy. From conception to completion, the story takes place over two decades. The story is one of vision, persistence and courage in the face of skepticism. The experience reminds us how much America can accomplish when we are prepared to marshal the extraordinary scientific capabilities in the Department of Energy's system of national laboratories.

The SNS is a product of an unprecedented collaboration among six Department of Energy laboratories. No single laboratory, including Oak Ridge, possessed the breadth of talent required to design a machine with more than 100,000 separate and interdependent control points that must function with precision. That a project of such incredible complexity could be designed and built by multiple laboratories—operating under different corporate cultures and located thousands of miles apart—defied much of what we thought we knew about science and the political process. The Department of Energy deserves much of the credit for coordinating this partnership and demonstrating that large and complicated projects can indeed be built not only safely, but also efficiently.

In virtually every aspect of its design and construction, the SNS is an imposing accomplishment. The $1.4 billion, seven-year project was completed on time and on budget, with no compromise in the project's scope and a construction safety record of more than four million hours without a lost work day. We are indebted to the hundreds of men and women, sometimes working in difficult conditions, who made this feat possible.

Over time, the remarkable success in designing and building the SNS will be surpassed by the facility's contributions to scientific discovery. The facility's 24 instruments will enable researchers to see and understand, as never before, the inner structures of a virtually limitless array of materials that shape every aspect of our lives. Our dreams include lighter alloys that will make airplanes more fuel efficient. Miniaturized motors and a new generation of batteries and fuel cells. Time-released drug delivery systems that target a specific body organ. Paints that extend the life of bridges. Advanced electronic materials that store more data and retrieve it more quickly. The list is literally endless and all the discoveries, we believe, are within our reach.

As we embark upon these exciting challenges in neutron science, we are equally enthusiastic about what the SNS will mean for other scientific disciplines. At Oak Ridge, our investments in people and facilities are guided by the belief that future scientific discovery will lie at the nexus of nanotechnology, information technology, and biology. The SNS, together with ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor, the Department of Energy's first Nanoscience Center, the world's most powerful unclassified computer, and new facilities dedicated to genomics and bioenergy, will form the foundation for our "nano, info, bio" strategy. With the completion of the SNS, the largest building block is now in place for ORNL's long-term research strategy.

One recent spring day, with the dogwoods and redbuds in full bloom, I slipped out of my office and took the five-minute drive up to Chestnut Ridge. Gazing at this magnificent new facility located against the backdrop of the Smoky Mountains, I reflected on the fact that more than a half-century ago Nobel Laureate Clifford Shull performed ground-breaking neutron scattering experiments in Oak Ridge. For three decades, America led the world in neutron science, then surrendered the lead to Europe. Located in Oak Ridge—the birthplace of neutron scattering—it is fitting that the SNS will restore that leadership to America.

We once again lead the world because the Department of Energy, the Congress, two administrations, and the scientific community possessed the vision and the faith to make it happen. This is no small thing. Together, we can rejoice in a job well done.

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