We are very pleased to announce that the OPAL reactor came back to full power today, that the shutters on all seven instruments were opened for radiation survey, and that commissioning of the seven initial instruments has resumed.
The cold neutron source continues to run well. During the last ten months of the OPAL shutdown, we have also successfully tested most of the new sample-environment apparatus on the two powder diffractometers.
Before scheduling user experiments, we still need (a) operating licences from our nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, and (b) a published schedule from Reactor Operations at ANSTO.
Requests for operating licences on the ECHIDNA and WOMBAT powder diffractometers will likely be submitted within the next month, with the other submissions to follow, depending on our progress with commissioning.
Published: 23/05/2008