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ORNL pursuing two major upgrades at SNS

Posted at 1:39 pm July 27, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

An aerial view of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)

An aerial view of the Spallation Neutron Source on Chestnut Ridge at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10:15 a.m. Aug. 1.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is pursuing two major upgrades to its Spallation Neutron Source that would allow new scientific research and could cost more than $1 billion.

The two proposed upgrades are a proton power upgrade and a second target station. The two projects are in different stages of review at the U.S. Department of Energy, ORNL spokesperson Morgan McCorkle said.

The proton power upgrade, or PPU, is being pursued first, and its current cost estimate is a little more than $200 million, McCorkle said. If approved, it would double the power of SNS’s proton beam from 1.4 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts.

The upgrade would allow new types of research at SNS, and it would increase the number of scientists who can use the facility each year, McCorkle said.

“The PPU will enable experiments that are not currently feasible, such as experiments on smaller or less concentrated samples, and experiments under more extreme environmental conditions,” McCorkle said. “The new scientific capabilities will support research in areas such as soft matter, quantum materials, chemistry, functional materials, and biology. Some examples of everyday products that may be improved by these discoveries include cell phones, batteries, computers, building materials, and drugs.”

The proton power upgrade would also eventually provide the extra power necessary for the proposed second target station, or STS. The design of the second target station is less mature, but the project could cost in the range of $1 billion and include about 300,000 square feet of new buildings, McCorkle said. The second target station would be on the east end of the SNS campus on Chestnut Ridge at ORNL.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Basic Energy Sciences, budget request, Chestnut Ridge, Congress, DOE, Donald Trump, energy and water appropriations bill, HFIR, High Flux Isotope Reactor, House Appropriations Committee, linear accelerator, mercury target, Morgan McCorkle, neutron scattering, neutron sources, neutrons, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, PPU, proton power upgrade, protons, Scientific Research, Second Target Station, Senate Appropriations Committee, SNS, SNS accelerator, SNS upgrade, Spallation Neutron Source, STS, Trump administration, tungsten target, U.S. Department of Energy

Record funding in federal budget could help Oak Ridge, senator says

Posted at 1:14 am November 21, 2015
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Lamar-Alexander-Warren-Gooch-Terry-Frank-Nov-20-2015

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, at a brief press conference with Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, center, and Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank at the Oak Ridge Municipal Building on Friday, Nov. 20, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The federal budget expected to be complete by mid-December should have record funding, and the money could help Oak Ridge in areas ranging from mercury and Cold War cleanup to scientific research and the proposed Uranium Processing Facility, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander said Friday.

The Oak Ridge area now receives about $3 billion per year in federal funding, and the level will be increased although he doesn’t have a number yet, said Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

Alexander held a brief press conference at the Oak Ridge Municipal Building on Friday.

He said the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which provided $1.4 billion to Oak Ridge National Laboratory this year, will have a record level of funding. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: cleanup, Energy and Water Appropriations, federal funding, Hanford, House, Lamar Alexander, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Corridor, Oak Ridge Municipal Building, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, Scientific Research, Senate Appropriations Committee, Spallation Neutron Source, Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Summit supercomputer, Terry Frank, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium processing facility, Warren Gooch, Y-12 National Security Complex

Record-breaker: SNS operates at full power—1.4 megawatts—for users for first time

Posted at 4:43 am July 8, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

ORNL SNS Full Power

The accelerator-based pulse neutron source at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source operated steadily for users at the maximum design power of 1.4 megawatts on June 26. (Photo credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL)

 

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory operated steadily at its full design power of 1.4 megawatts for researchers for the first time on June 26.

“We’re producing neutrons now at this intensity for user experiments,” spokesman Bill Cabage said in a telephone interview last week.

The $1.4 billion SNS is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility built on a ridge top at ORNL. It uses a linear proton accelerator and mercury target to provide the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development. The proton beam hits the mercury target, knocking off neutrons from liquid mercury atoms. The neutrons, which are used to study materials from superconductors to biological systems, are then channeled down 16 instrument beam lines, where neutron spectrometers produce data revealing the structures and dynamics of molecules and atoms.

The SNS has been used for experiments since it started producing neutrons in April 2006, but at lower power. Researchers wanted to eventually get to full power, even if that had to be done gradually during the past eight years.

“They didn’t want to have a lot of disruption playing with it,” Cabage said. “They wanted to keep it reliable for users.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: 1.4 megawatts, Bill Cabage, Biological and Soft Matter Division, Center for Structural and Molecular Biology, full design power, full power, industrial development, jet-flow target, Kevin Jones, liquid mercury, mercury target, neutron beams, neutrons, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Paul Langan, proton accelerator, pulsed neutron beams, Research Accelerators Division, Scientific Research, SNS, Spallation Neutron Source, target, Target 9, U.S. Department of Energy

Van Berkel receives top Science, Technology honor at UT-Battelle Awards Night

Posted at 2:56 pm November 19, 2013
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Gary J. Van Berkel

Gary J. Van Berkel

Gary J. Van Berkel of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Chemical Sciences Division has earned the ORNL Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology.

Van Berkel was honored Friday night during the annual Awards Night event hosted by UT-Battelle, the management and operating contractor of ORNL. The award recognizes Van Berkel’s sustained leadership and innovation in the development of disruptive sampling systems for mass spectrometry, resulting in multiple commercial licenses and new product offerings. He was earlier named ORNL’s Inventor of the Year.

David Fowler

David Fowler

David Fowler of ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate earned the Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Laboratory Operations. Fowler was honored for recent accomplishments that exceeded normal performance expectations and positively advanced ORNL’s mission. He also won the Excellence in Operations category.

Donald Cross of ORNL’s Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate earned the Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Community Engagement. Cross provided outstanding leadership and selfless dedication in community service through the mentoring of special needs children and adults in a wide variety of organizations. He also won the award for Exceptional Community Engagement by an Individual. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: Alexander Johs, Awards Night, Baohua Gu, Carrie L. Miller, Chemical Sciences Division, Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate, Craig C. Brandt, David Fowler, Director's Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Community Engagement, Director's Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Laboratory Operations, Director's Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology, Director's Award for Outstanding Team Accomplishment, Donald Cross, Dwayne A. Elias, Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Excellence in Operations, Exceptional Community Engagement by an Individual, Gary J. Van Berkel, Inventor of the Year, Jeremy C. Smith, Jerry M. Parks, Liyuan Lang, mass spectrometry, mercury methylation, Mircea Podar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Scientific Research, Scott C. Brooks, Steven D. Brown, UT-Battelle, Xianping Lisa Yin

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