In response to the present budgetary situation at ANSTO, and the end of NCRIS funding for the National Deuteration Facility, a number of significant changes are coming into force for the next proposal round that closes on September 15th:
For our two SAXS instruments and X-ray reflectometer, all stand-alone usage involving AINSE member institutions, should now be submitted through AINSE's portal, and standard facility charges will apply.
If use is requested in conjunction with QUOKKA or PLATYPUS neutron experiments, X-ray beam time can still be requested through the Bragg Institute portal, and AINSE will then be invoiced for the X-ray component of the work.
For the National Deuteration Facility, charges have now been published on AINSE's website, and these will apply to any successful proposals involving AINSE member institutions.
However, in an effort to coordinate the deuterations with the related neutron experiments at OPAL, access will continue to be via the Bragg Institute portal. All other research proposals, for instance for NMR, optical spectroscopy or neutron experiments at facilities other than OPAL, should be submitted via AINSE's portal.
Finally, given that we only received the refurbished detector for QUOKKA in July 2011, and there remains a large backlog of commitments to users for small-angle neutron scattering, we are not in a position to offer QUOKKA in the coming round for beam time between January and June 2012.
In other words, the January-June round that closes on September 15th includes the PLATYPUS neutron reflectometer, both chemical- and bio-deuteration and our 5 operating thermal neutron instruments:
ECHIDNA, WOMBAT, KOALA, KOWARI and TAIPAN