Slowing down neutrons

The Reactor Institute Delft received 38 million euros from the government to upgrade the reactor and develop new instruments.

The reactor will produce neutrons that can be guided more accurately. (Photo: RID)

The most significant aspect of this so-called Oyster project (Optimised Yield – for Science, Technology and Education – of Radiation) is the purchase of a cold source: a device that slows down neutrons. This enables the particles to be more accurately guided for applications, such as material research.
The research opportunities that the new reactor – planned to be operational in 2015 - will offer seem endless. RID-researcher, Professor Bert Wolterbeek, one of the scientists involved with the upgrade procedure, doesn’t really know where to start. “Since the reactor will produce ten times more neutrons, which can moreover be steered much more accurately, we will basically be able to investigate everything that requires huge amounts of neutrons. We will place our institute in the forefront of neutron research.”

“We will be able to look into materials and study dynamic processes,” Wolterbeek continues. “If you want to know how proteins attach to metal implants, you can study the dynamics of the process. Or you can look inside porous materials used to store hydrogen and study how hydrogen molecules are absorbed and released.”
Other research projects include the development of a scanning neutron microscope (SNM) to study the composition of paintings, among other objects. And one of projects Wolterbeek is working on is the development of a new generation of radioisotopes to detect and fight cancer cells.

Existing instruments will also be improved, such as the Spin Echo Small Angle Neutron Scattering device (Sesans), with which one can observe changes in food in real time. With Sesans one can for instance watch milk turn into cheese. The instrument measures the scattering of the neutrons fired onto the research material.
“We have investigated all the new possible research questions that now came into scope together with the scientific community,” Wolterbeek says. “This will allow us to tune the reactor to make the most promising research possible.