OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY
Spallation Neutron Source
The 80-acre Spallation Neutron Science (SNS) site was built on Chestnut Ridge. The $1,411.7 million SNS project was officially completed on June 5, 2006 after 10 years. The ORNL SNS Project office led the six-DOE lab partnership of Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. SNS allows neutron-scattering research of the structure and dynamics of materials.
The complex consists of the Central Laboratory and Office Building (CLO), a curved building; the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences; the Target Building, and underground accelerator systems. The SNS facility includes a Front End System that produces a pulsed beam of negative hydrogen ions, a Linear Accelerator or Linac System which accelerates the beam, a Ring and Trasnfer System, which converts the negative ions into protons in pulses, a liquid mercury Target System that generates neutrons by spallation reactions, Instrument Systems, which receive the neutrons, and Conventional Facilities including the CLO.
In May 2006, the first neutrons were generated at SNS. The facility's proton power beam was steadily increased with the intention of reaching the 1.4-megawatt goal in 2008. An upgrade is planned with construction starting in FY 2008 and finishing in FY 2012. The estimated cost of the upgrade is $150 to $173 million U.S. dollars.
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