An Assessment of the Center for Neutron Research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Fiscal Year 2021 (2022) / Chapter Skim
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2 Adequacy of Facilities, Equipment, and Human Resources
2 Adequacy of Facilities, Equipment, and Human Resources
Pages 8-17
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From page 8... ...
There were no health or safety impacts on personnel, the public, or the environment; however, the reactor remains shut down as NCNR determines the root cause of the incident, implements corrective and preventative actions, and requests a restart from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) .1 This comes 2 years before the planned 11month reactor shutdown set to begin in calendar year 2023 to upgrade the cold neutron source from hydrogen to deuterium before switching from high enriched uranium (HEU)
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From page 9... ...
The NBS reactor was commissioned in 1969, one of three large reactors in the United States commissioned in that decade, and NCNR has since then played a vital role in NBS and then NIST internal research, calibration and metrology, and standards development as well as providing an outsized role in advancing neutron scattering in the United States as a user facility for the external scientific academic, national laboratories, and industrial communities.4 Neutrons play a distinct role in the measurement of materials properties. They are uncharged and interact with atomic nuclei and thus have deep penetration of solids relevant to bulk measurements needed for industry -- for example, they can be used to measure the porosity of rock for mining; they can measure nondestructively the chemical profile, bulk modulus, and embrittlement of industrial-relevant materials such as cement and steel; and their unique atomic interactions with isotopes can be used to map out light elements, including hydrogen placement in soft materials such as polymers and biological systems, lithium ion batteries, fluid flow in fuel cells, and internal combustion engines.
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From page 10... ...
Now one of three major neutron scattering sources in the United States, NCNR has awarded more than 200 in each call for proposals, with about 2 calls each year, and served roughly 2,800 external and 200 internal NIST users.6 From 2016 to 2019, pre-COVID-19, NCNR has had an excellent safety and reliability record of 98 percent and has delivered an average of 220 days of operation per year. NCNR has a worldwide reputation as an excellent and creative user facility that is cost effective, with high scientific productivity despite fewer technical staff per instrument7 and an aging reactor, and has attracted excellent outside users who produce world-leading results.8,9 Accomplishments Since 2018 Review NCNR provided 212 days of beamtime with 98 percent reliability in 2019, served the internal needs of 19 NIST divisions and offices, and served 3,068 researchers and 50 companies.10 The onset of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic caused NCNR to suspend operations of the reactor from March 17, 2020, through July 15, 2020, and to operate with reduced staffing, internal use only of the instruments, and some support for mail-in external user operations after July 15.
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From page 11... ...
There were no health or safety impacts on personnel, the public, or the environment; however, the reactor remains shut down while NCNR determines the root cause of the incident, implements corrective and preventative actions, and requests a restart from the NRC. This comes just before the planned 11-month reactor shutdown set to begin in calendar year 2023 to increase the cold neutron flux by adding a new deuterium cold source before a scheduled shift from HEU to LEU fuel in late 2029.
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From page 12... ...
NCNR's scientific impact in hard condensed matter continues to be world class, with a steady flow of important work on topological spin excitations and unconventional superconductivity interacting with magnetism, of relevance to the development of future microelectronics and quantum devices for computing and cryptography. Tour de force groundbreaking experiments have demonstrated the significant advance of reactor sources for time-resolved elastic and inelastic neutron scattering with atomic resolution on millisecond time scales to measure response to perturbations of materials using time-stamped data and a complex sample environment on the Multi-Axis Crystal Spectrometer (MACS)
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From page 13... ...
This is especially of importance to industry.15 The current operations software is behind the NIST firewall, and for remote operations it either needs to allow external users access and/or requires the hiring of more beamline scientists/operators to manage sample changes and run experiments for the external users in combination with more automation. The support of external users and especially of industry, a key NIST mission, may require more NCNR beamline scientists and technician staffing in the future.
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From page 14... ...
competitiveness in science and in industrial materials R&D. The planning process for a new reactor has begun but is moving slowly without new funding for a science case and for design of a new reactor tailored for cold neutron instruments and using LEU fuel.
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From page 15... ...
Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) has played a vital role in NBS and then NIST internal research, calibration and metrology, and standards development as well as providing an outsized role in advancing neutron scattering in the United States as a user facility for the external scientific academic, national laboratories, and industrial communities.
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From page 16... ...
The NBSR staff have given some consideration for a new reactor concept, but additional input is warranted from the research community to understand their needs, develop more detailed design concepts, and develop a more robust cost estimate. It is important to have a design that is optimized for LEU fuel and that allows for future modifications because the new reactor should operate for 50 years into the future.
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From page 17... ...
Key Conclusion: Additional input is warranted from the research community to understand its needs, more detailed design concepts for a new reactor, and a more robust cost estimate for the new reactor. It is important to have a design that is optimized for LEU fuel and that allows for future modifications because the new reactor should operate for 50 years.
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