Spallation Neutron Source Target Station Issues PDF Download

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is an accelerator-based short-pulse neutron scattering facility designed to meet the needs of the neutron scattering community in the US well into the next century. SNS is a US Department of Energy (DOE) construction project that is planned to be completed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory late in 2005. SNS is being designed and will be constructed by a 5-laboratory collaboration including Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The functional requirements for the SNS have been set by the scientific community and DOE. SNS will initially operate at 1 MW with one target station operating at 60 Hz and having 18 beam ports for neutron scattering experiments. The first 10 neutron scattering instruments are provided as part of the SNS construction project, and will be selected to span the types of science anticipated to be most important for this facility on the basis of input from the user community. This paper describes the process of selection and design of these first 10 instruments. The extensive R and D program to support the design and construction of these instruments and to help pave the way for future instruments will also be discussed. A set of 10 reference instruments has been developed to help establish the layout of the experiment hall and the interface between the instruments and the target station. This layout and some of the associated interface issues will be described. Examples of the design and performance of some of these reference instruments will also be discussed as an indication of the types of instrumentation involved and the new scientific capabilities that should be available when the SNS becomes operational.