News

On May 28-29, the 4th annual conference of BATTERY 2030+ gathered over 300 participants in Grenoble for two days of great presentations, discussions and networking opportunities on many different facets of battery research in Europe and beyond.

A study now published in Nature Communications brings remarkable insights into the enigmatic behaviour of supercritical fluids, a hybrid state of matter occupying a unique space between liquids and gases, and arising in domains ranging from the pharmaceutical industry to planetary science. The obtained results are at the limit of current experimental possibilities and could only be obtained in a high-flux neutron source such as the ILL.

The Swiss company NOVARTIS announced at the Choose France Summit the desire to establish a partnership with the ILL, already a partner of other pharmaceutical companies for radioisotope production for cancer treatment and research. This is part of a plan to create a production unit intended to supply the French market with the first radioligand therapy (RLT) drug for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, an investment of close to 30 million euros in France.

It is common knowledge that batteries degrade with usage. Exactly how this happens and how could it be mitigated is cutting-edge research. Details of an important step forward have just been published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science.

The second 2024 reactor cycle at ILL started today, 14 May. It will last 56 days, until 9 July, at a power of 47.2 MW.

Following the recent articles in Le Monde and Le Point, the importance of neutrons for science & innovation has now been highlighted in CNRS news. World-class research needs new neutron sources. Their success, however, depends on the vibrant community supported by the existing sources. It is crucial to understand timescales and manage the transition well.

The UK Neutron and Muon Science and User Meeting (NMSUM) took place at Warwick University in April attracting over 300 participants. At ILL we look forward to the next NMSUM in 2025 and other user meetings across Europe before then.

On 29 April ILL's Director, Ken Andersen, welcomed Michael Arentoft, Head of Unit at the European Commission's Directorate for Research and Innovation. An opportunity to show off our state-of-the-art instrument suite, following the Endurance upgrade, and to discuss EU projects at ILL.

On April 23-24th, the third Workshop on Additive Manufacturing (WAM2024) took place in Grenoble. WAM2024 was held in conjunction with the ILL-ESRF Residual Stress School, which took place on April 25-26th.

The original instrument SHARP (Spectromètre Hybride Alpes Région Parisienne, former IN6) becomes SHARPER (Spectromètre Hybride Alpes Région Parisienne Etendu en Résolution).

The ILL's Science Strategy Working Group had its second meeting on 17/18 April on site in Grenoble. The final meeting will take place in 17/18 June.

Using neutron spectroscopy data taken at ILL, researchers achieved a novel understanding of molecular movement at the nanoscale, providing new insights that may impact the design of future materials and technologies. The study has just been published in the Nature Portfolio open access journal Communications Chemistry – and is featured (as a banner) on the journal homepage.