Opportunities for Research using OPAL, the new Australian Research Reactor

Robert A. Robinson (Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Australia)

The OPAL Research Reactor is one of the newest high-performance neutron sources in the world. 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, and fully analysed data sets have now been taken on all seven of the initial suite of 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 various states of construction, 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. Indeed it is a key method in many areas of modern condensed-matter physics and chemistry, materials science and engineering, structural biology and the earth sciences. 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.

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