Oak Ridge research facility sets new world record

Oak Ridge research facility sets new world record

August 30, 2007

By HARLOW SUMERFORD
6 News Reporter

OAK RIDGE (WATE) -- The Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Facility has broken a world record and its research could affect future designs for everything from drugs to bridges to airplanes.

Officials announced the new record Thursday for the most powerful beam to scatter neutrons.

Neutron scattering techniques give researchers tools to study the structure and dynamics of materials at their molecular level.

The SNS Facility has the world's highest flux reactor-based neutron source (the High Flux Isotope Reactor) and the world's most intense pulsed accelerator-based neutron source (the Spallation Neutron Source).

Click here for a primer on neutron scattering.

Officials say this research could potentially lead to new designs for drugs, better bridge construction and lighter airplanes.

The previous world record for scattering neutrons was held by the Isis facility in the United Kingdom.

The new record is expected to attract the top researchers from around the world to East Tennessee.

"If this is your field, if this is what you want to do, then this is where you want to be. There is no place in the world that can do what we can do with high performance computing, neutron, and with nano-science. So those tools are an attractor for scientific talent," says Dr. Tom Mason, director of ORNL. 

When SNS is operating at full power, instruments will be available to researchers including new graduate students, first-time neutron users and experienced users.