German Neutron Source Gets Go‐Ahead

Neutron scattering research in Germany should get a boost from the construction of a new research reactor, called the FRM‐2, at the Technical University of Munich. The German federal government and the state of Bavaria have approved funding for the reactor, which, together with the beam hall and instruments, is expected to cost DM720 million. Although the reactor will have only about one‐third the power of the 57‐megawatt facility at the Institut Laue‐Langevin in Grenoble, France—the research reactor with the highest neutron flux—the FRM‐2 will have somewhat over half its flux (${\text{8×10}}^{14}$ neutrons per square centimeter per second compared to ${\text{1.5×10}}^{15}\hspace{0.17em}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\text{−2}}\hspace{0.17em}{\mathrm{s}}^{\text{−1}}$ at the ILL). With a capacity for 30‐35 instruments, the reactor will provide additional neutron capability at a time when beam lines at ILL and other reactors are heavily oversubscribed. FRM‐2 will have a cold source to provide neutrons whose temperatures are below 60 K; the flux of these cold neutrons will be comparable to that at the ILL. A unique feature of the FRM‐2 will be a built‐in facility for treating human cancer with fission neutrons. The chief designer of the FRM‐2 is Klaus Boning of the Technical University of Munich.

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