Page 76 - ILL Annual Report 2019

MODERNISATION PROGRAMME AND INSTRUMENT UPGRADES
Endurance: Instrument Upgrade Programme
The pace of Endurance continues with the delivery and roll-out of new and upgraded instrumentation, capabilities and infrastructure. The scope of the programme has increased dramatically since 2016. In 2017 a grant from French national and regional funds allowed us to integrate additional projects as an extension to Endurance 1. With the tentative scope of a second phase of Endurance independently reviewed, endorsed by the Scientific Council and costed, the ILL associates began partial funding of Endurance 2 in 2019 and funding is now secured for the full programme up to 2023. The number of projects completed, in-progress and yet to
be launched is considerable. A summary plus a brief description and the expected scientific gains of all Endurance projects is given in Table 1, while a roundup of some of the highlights during 2019 is given below. As depicted by the opening line of Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times’. In other words, all has not been straightforward in the roll-out of Endurance.
AUTHORS
C. Dewhurst and J. Estrade (ILL)
H1-H2: The two major guide infrastructure and instrument projects, H24 and H15, both rely on critical changes to the reactor in-pile neutron guides as part of the H1-H2 project. The original plan for a long H1-H2 shutdown between winter 2020 and autumn 2021 could not be maintained, principally due to fabrication difficulties and delays in the manufacturing of the H1-H2 beam tube. These problems have now been resolved, thanks to a two-pronged approach and risk mitigation strategy, but with the knock-on effect of a delayed H1-H2 shutdown now scheduled for summer 2021 to summer 2022. A new plan for key reactor works and the roll-out of Endurance has been established, reinforcing and respecting the ILL’s priorities for delivering the highest quality science while securing the future of our neutron source. With this goal, and
by incorporating critical parts of the Endurance 2 H15 guide renewal project into the H1-H2 shutdown, the new plan aims to have completed H24 and associated instruments by summer 2022 and the roll-out of all major guide infrastructure and instrument projects by the end of 2023. This is a challenge for the ILL, but we are in the process of identifying and planning the critical resources required to achieve this target and the timely delivery of Endurance.
Endurance 1: The backbone of Endurance 1 is the ‘Chartreuse’ project, involving the renewal of the H24 thermal neutron guide and the upgrade of the D10+ single-crystal diffractometer and IN13+ (CRG) backscattering spectrometer, as well as a new extreme-conditions powder and single-crystal diffractometer, XtremeD (CRG). All major instrument and guide components for the project are ready and awaiting installation during the H1-H2 shutdown.
The new thermal TOF spectrometer, PANTHER, is close
to completion. It will be ready for commissioning during the
first cycle of 2020, following a six-month delay in obtaining authorisation for its installation from the nuclear safety authorities. The potential fire risk from the vast quantities (30 tonnes) of high-density polyethylene used in background-shielding the instrument has been mitigated, while a full evaluation and reduction of the total calorific load (combustible materials) within the reactor building has been made. SuperSUN,
the new, intense source of ultra-cold neutrons, has still to
begin commissioning but is close to completion. From
a cryogenic point of view, SuperSUN is an extremely complicated assembly of cryogenic equipment containing a 3He refrigerator, a converter cryostat and a UCN extraction system with state-of-the-art heat exchangers and super-leak
ANNUAL REPORT 2019