OPAL News
The situation remains that OPAL will resume operations once there is regulatory approval from ARPANSA. At the time of writing, we are optimistic about getting this in the very near future.
Once ARPANSA approval is given, we hope to return to full power within a couple of weeks. This long shutdown, while highly undesirable, has allowed a significant amount of catch-up work both on our instruments and on the reactor itself. For instance, we discovered a very minor air leak into the helium-cryogenic system for the cold-neutron source, and this has recently been rectified by installing better seals on the main compressors. In addition, analysis of the neutron flux and spectral measurements made prior to August 2007 indicate neutron fluxes in the thermal and cold guides of 2.8 x 109 and 6.4 x 109 n/cm-2s-1, respectively. These figures are comparable with published numbers from both the Institut Laue Langevin in Grenoble, France, and the new FRM-II reactor in Munich, Germany, and indicate that our guides are working very well. We have yet to measure neutron fluxes at any of the instrument sample positions, but we expect these figures to be highly competitive by international standards.
We are very grateful to our user community for their patience during this long intermission, and we look forward to serving you again in the very near future.