Public Lecture at the 2013 Summer School

The public lecture at this year's summer school is announced. It will be a great talk given by the Head of The Bragg Institute of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. It is nice to hear the recent success story of Australia's builidng a research reactor and running a successful neutron scattering user program there, lessons there for Canada??? http://www.cins.ca/ss2013/ "Robert A. Robinson will present "The Australian Experience with a New Multi-Purpose Research Reactor for Scientific Research, Isotope Production and Silicon Irradiation," on Wednesday June 5, at 7:00 PM at Child's Auditorium at the Mackenzie Community School in Deep River. Dr. Robinson is the Head of The Bragg Institute of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
Presentation Abstract: The OPAL Research Reactor is one of the newest high-performance neutron sources in the world. The Australian Government made the funding decision in 1997 and the contract was signed with the Argentinian company INVAP S.E. to construct a 20-MW research reactor, with large cold source, guide hall and modern supermirror guides. The low-enriched uranium fuel was loaded into the OPAL reactor in August 2006, and full power (20MW) achieved in November 2006. The formal scientific user program commenced in 2007, on the initial suite of seven neutron beam instruments. The user base is approximately 50% from Australian universities, 20% from the host organization (ANSTO) and 30% from overseas. 6 further instruments are in commissioning or are nearing completion, and substantial additional investment is also being made in sample-environment, extra instrumental options, polarised-neutron technology, and both chemical- and bio-deuteration facilities. I will outline the strengths and weaknesses of the neutron-scattering method, and show its application to such pertinent issues as lithium-ion batteries, oil and gas recovery, magnetic recording, food science, superconductivity and so on. An update will be given on the status of OPAL, the performance of its thermal and cold neutron sources and instruments, together with a selection of recent scientific results and future plans. "