When the Spallation Neutron Source was in the proposal stage and under construction, its supporters said the $1.4 billion research complex would eventually attract about 2,000 scientists a year to Oak Ridge to perform experiments and otherwise do their thing.
That number, as I recall, was lumped together with researchers at the recently upgraded High Flux Isotope Reactor — Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s “other” billion-dollar research facility. The user projection may also have included the new $65 million nanoscience facility, known as the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences.
Anyway, the numbers aren’t there. Not yet. Not by a long shot, according to statistics given to me last week by Ian Anderson, ORNL’s associate lab director for neutron sciences.
Anderson said the total number of unique users — “if they come twice, we don’t count them again” — was around 830 for the 2008 federal year, which concluded Sept. 30. “That is ‘bang-on’ (apparently a British saying) what we predicted for this year,” Anderson said.
The Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences was the busiest of the research facilities with more than 400 users. The labs at CNMS, barely a year old, are operating at near capacity.
The High Flux Isotope Reactor, which has a newly installed cold source that slows the movement of neutrons and expands the research possibilities with materials, had about 260 users during FY ‘08.
The Spallation Neutron Source was third, with about 170 users.
The SNS began operations in April 2006, and it is the world’s most powerful pulsed source of neutrons. But it’s still a long way from achieving full operations — both from a power standpoint and from the number of scientific instruments available to users.
The accelerator-based system recently achieved a beam power on target of 629 kilowatts, a world record. But that’s less than halfway to the eventual max of 1.4 megawatts, which is scheduled to occur in December 2010. The power level directly affects the number of neutrons produced for experiments, where they act like tiny detectives and tell scientists about the structure and properties of materials. The more neutrons, the better the science, and some of the of the more difficult experiments won’t be attempted until the SNS achieves higher power.
So far, eight research instruments have been installed in the SNS Target Building, where the ultra-powerful proton beam strikes the mercury target — releasing zillions of neutrons to experimental stations. But that’s only a third of the 24 instruments that will eventually be located there, greatly expanding the research capacity at the SNS.
Also, Anderson said Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science Ray Orbach recently approved the “mission need” proposal for a second target facility at SNS, the first step in the approval process that could lead to 24 more research instruments. The second target building would cost between $700 million and $900 million, based on early estimates.
-- It’s been another busy week on my blog, Atomic City Underground (http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/munger/). Posts have included more details on the hard-hit pension funds for retirees; secrets of Oak Ridge’s nuclear burial grounds; ORNL’s work on a high-security project in Hungary; a new fleet of two-wheeled energy savers at the lab; future funding outlook and its impacts at Y-12; background on DOE’s almost-final decision to tear down the K-25 building; first look at photos showing the interior of the new uranium fortress at Y-12; and farewell to a supercomputer that helped establish Oak Ridge as a world center for computational science.
Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. His e-mail is email@example.com.