History of the Spallation Neutron Source

Most of the world's neutron sources were built decades ago, and although the uses and demand for neutrons have increased throughout the years, few new sources have been built. To fill that need for a new, dramatically improved neutron source, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences funded the construction of SNS, which would provide the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development.

The construction of SNS was a partnership of six U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories: Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Jefferson. This collaboration was one of the largest of its kind in U.S. scientific history and was used to bring together the best minds and experience from many different fields.

After more than five years of construction and a cost of $1.4 billion, SNS was completed on schedule in April 2006. Along with the High Flux Isotope Reactor, SNS is now operated as part of the ORNL Neutron Sciences Directorate, which is composed of about 1200 staff.

April 28th First Data

Data from the successful SNS commissioning
run on April 28, 2006.

SNS Delivers Its First Neutrons!!

Movies of April 28th Events

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