Today, the OPAL Research Reactor starts its first long (6 week) shutdown.
OPAL is scheduled to restart on 17th December, with major maintenance having been performed, and a change of the CG1-3 in-pile plug and shutter.
This will allow the consequent installation of the new CG2 split guide, one half of which will feed the new BILBY time-of-flight SANS instrument. The TAIPAN thermal 3-Axis Spectrometer will resume user operations on 17th December, and both SIKA and DINGO will be able to take neutrons.
The other thermal instruments in the Neutron Guide Hall will recommence operations once major work has been completed on their guides in the guide bunker, in March 2013, and the cold-neutron instruments will resume operation once the problems with OPAL's cold neutron source system are solved.
Published: 05/11/2012