The ILL in NuPECC’s Long Range Plan 2024
This recently published European strategy document clearly recommends the exploitation of ILL well beyond 2033 – due to its scientific relevance, competitiveness in nuclear (and particle) physics, and its capabilities for producing radioisotopes for research and cancer treatment.
The Long Range Plan 2024 (LRP2024) for European Nuclear Physics has been recently published by the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC), an expert committee of the European Science Foundation representing the entire European nuclear physics community.
The document “Summarises progress in the field over the last decade, (…) provides an outlook on expected developments in the next decades, and presents recommendations for scientific institutions, policymakers, and research funding organisations.”
The ILL takes a prominent position in this strategic document. An overview is given below.
Among the “Recommendations for Nuclear Physics Infrastructures” one can read that “Neutron facilities play a significant role in fundamental nuclear research and applications, producing unique and valuable experimental results. (…) It is crucial and strongly recommended to maintain the operation of exceptional neutron facilities like ILL and n_TOF at CERN.”
Concerning fundamental nuclear physics, the ILL is recognised as playing an important role in the following topics: nuclear structure and reaction dynamics (nuclear shells and shapes, nuclear fission), nuclear astrophysics (nucleosynthesis in low- and intermediate-mass stars), symmetries and fundamental interactions (beta decay, search for modified gravity with neutrons, neutron electric dipole moment).
A recommendation follows: “The multidisciplinary research infrastructures ILL, FRM-II and PSI provide unique opportunities for fundamental physics at their cold and ultracold neutron beamlines. Their efforts for infrastructure upgrades should be supported. The long-term operation of ILL should be ensured beyond 2033 (…) until the corresponding infrastructures for fundamental neutron physics at the upcoming ESS facility are established.”
On the chapter about research infrastructures, the section devoted to the ILL points out that “Most of ILL’s nuclear physics instruments are unique worldwide”, mentioning in particular LOHENGRIN, FIPPS, PF1b, PF2 and SuperSUN, and the high flux irradiation position V4. It further emphasises that major reactor components were renewed in 2022, ensuring safe reactor operations well into the future.
The importance of a European neutron ecosystem based on complementarity is recognised, as is the fact that “Nuclear physics research using slow neutrons and the production of radionuclides for research and cancer treatment is strongly concentrated on the European flagship facility ILL”. As a result, there is a clear recommendation to fully exploit the ILL up to the technical lifetime of ILL’s reactor vessel, which is close to 2060.
Finally, the section on nuclear physics tools (detectors and experimental techniques) highlights ILL’s role in neutron production and detection, production and availability of enriched stable isotopes, and production and separation of radioactive isotopes. The participation in PRISMAP, the European Medical Radionuclides programme, is highlighted. The document further highlights the pioneering role of the ILL in FAIR and Open data.
Link to the full document: https://www.nupecc.org/lrp2024/Documents/nupecc_lrp2024.pdf