Neutron research facility

A neutron research facility is most commonly a big laboratory operating a large-scale neutron source that provides thermal neutrons to a suite of research instruments. The neutron source usually is a research reactor or a spallation source. In some cases, a smaller facility will provide high energy neutrons (e.g. 2.5 MeV or 14 MeV fusion neutrons) using existing neutron generator technologies.

List of neutron facilities

The following list is intended to be exhaustive and to cover active facilities as well as those that are shut down.

Australia

• ANSTO-HIFAR Reactor, Sydney
• Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor (OPAL)

Bangladesh

• Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC)

Canada

• NRC Canadian Neutron Beam Centre at Chalk River Laboratories
• RE-Labs Inc. – Single Event Effects Testing Services

China

• China Spallation Neutron Source – Dongguan, Guangdong.
• CNPG – Light ion (D,T), China Institute of Atomic Energy
• HI-13 – Light ion (D,T), China Institute of Atomic Energy

Czech Republic

• Neutron Physics Laboratory (within CANAM infrastructure) ^[1]

Denmark

• Risø (reactors 1958–2000)

Egypt

• ETRR-1 – Nuclear Research Center, Inshas (1961–)
• ETRR-2 – Nuclear Research Center, Inshas (1997–)

France

• ILL – Institut Laue–Langevin (1972–)
• LLB – Laboratoire Léon Brillouin at CEA Saclay
• NFS – GANIL

Germany

• FRM I – Technical University, Garching (1957–2000)
• FRM II – Technical University, Garching (2004–)
• FRMZ –Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz (1967–)
• FRJ-2 at Forschungszentrum Jülich (1962–2006)
• Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (2005–), a virtual facility that operates instruments at other facilities (FRM II, ILL, SNS)
• FRG-1 – GKSS, Geesthacht near Hamburg (1958–2010)
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, formerly HMI – Hahn-Meitner-Institut

Hungary

• KFKI Research Institutes, Budapest

India

• Dhruva, CIRUS and Apsara: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai
• KAMINI

Indonesia

• Neutron Scattering Laboratory – National Nuclear Energy Agency  [ id ] (BATAN)

Japan

• JAERI – Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute
• KENS – High Energy Accelerator Organisation, KEK
• KURRI – Research Reactor Institute (Kyoto)
• JSNS – (part of the Japan proton accelerator research complex (J-PARC)

Netherlands

• RID – Reactor Institute Delft, Delft University of Technology ^[2]

Norway

• IFE – Jeep 2 reactor at Kjeller Institute for Energy Technology

Poland

• Maria reactor – POLATOM Institute of Nuclear Energy, Świerk-Otwock
• Ewa reactor – POLATOM Institute of Nuclear Energy, Świerk-Otwock (1958–1995)

Russia

• IBR Fast Pulsed Reactors (Dubna)
• JINR – Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
• WWR-M, Gatchina ^[3]
• PIK, Gatchina ^[4]

South Africa

• NECSA SAFARI-1

South Korea

• High-Flux Advanced Neutron Application Reactor (HANARO) – Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI)

Sweden

• NFL – Studsvik Neutron Research Laboratory, Studsvik
• ESS – European Spallation Source (project)

Switzerland

• SINQ@PSI – Paul Scherrer Institute ^[5]
• UCN@PSI – Paul Scherrer Institute – Ultra Cold Neutron Source ^[6]
• n_TOF – CERN

Ukraine

• Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology neutron source facility  [ uk ]

United Kingdom

• DIDO
• ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire

United States

• HFBR – High Flux Beam Reactor, Brookhaven (1965–1996)
• IPNS – Intense Pulsed Neutron Source, Argonne National Laboratory (1981–2008)
• LANSCE – Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (Los Alamos)
• LENS – Low Energy Neutron Source, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
• NIST – Center for Neutron Research, Gaithersburg near Washington D.C.
• NSL – Neutron Science Laboratory, University of Michigan College of Engineering.
• HFIR – High Flux Isotope Reactor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• SNS – Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• MURR – University of Missouri Research Reactor, Columbia, MO.
• MNRC – MacClellan Nuclear Research Center, Sacramento, CA.
• RPI LINAC - Rensselaer Gaerttner LINAC Center, Troy, NY.

References

1. "Neutron Physics Laboratory (NPL) - Ústav jaderné fyziky AV ČR".
2. "TU Delft Reactor Institute" . Retrieved 29 January 2024.
3. A.P. Serebrov; et al. (2010). "Project of the Ultracold and Cold Neutron Source at the WWR-M Reactor with Superfluid Helium as a Moderator". Physics of the Solid State. 52 (5): 1034–1039. Bibcode:2010PhSS...52.1034S. doi:10.1134/S106378341005032X.
4. A.P. Serebrov; et al. (2016). "Program for studying fundamental interactions at the PIK reactor facilities". Physics of Atomic Nuclei. 79 (3): 293–303. Bibcode:2016PAN....79..293S. doi:10.1134/S1063778816030145.
5. "SINQ | SINQ | Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)". 9 October 2025.
6. "Research with Neutrons and Muons (NUM) | NUM | Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)".

External links

• List of major active neutron facilities Archived 2020-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
• NMI3 – a European consortium of 18 partner organisations from 12 countries, including all major facilities in the fields of neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy