Lab Beats Guinness Record

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been confirmed by Guinness World Records as the world's most powerful pulsed neutron spallation source.

The SNS recently ramped up beam power to more than 300 kWs in January, producing 4.8 x 10e16 neutrons per second -- nearly doubling the 163-kW record at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, England.

The Oak Ridge SNS is currently sending neutrons to five instruments of an eventual 24, and its first article has been accepted in Physical Review Letters, the Department of Energy-run lab said in a statement.

"With an eventual beam power of 1.4 megawatts, every time the SNS ramps up, it will set a new neutron production standard," it said.

The achievement -- which makes the lab the most powerful source of pulsed neutrons -- could lead to, for example, pharmaceutical and energy advances in medicine and energy.

SNS is an accelerator-based neutron source. When at full power, the facility will provide the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development.

For more information, visit: neutrons.ornl.gov/aboutsns/

For updates on the SNS beam status, visit: neutrons.ornl.gov/diagnostics/channel13/ch14.html