From the empty space in the linear accelerator building to the giant mound of dirt out back, it's clear Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source has room to grow.
The Department of Energy and six national labs collaborated to make Oak Ridge's neutron source during the 1990s. Upon its completion in 2006, it was the most powerful and in-demand neutron source in the world. As such, it was designed to expand as needed.
"Ever since the SNS was first conceived, we planned and designed and built it in a way that would allow us to upgrade it," said Paul Langan, ORNL associate laboratory director for neutron sciences. "We designed this place to accommodate a power upgrade of the accelerator complex, and then to support a second target station with more instruments and very new capabilities for emerging science."
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