ILL reactor ON and ready for great science

The first 2024 reactor cycle at ILL started at 08:30 today, February 27^th. It will go on for 49 days, until April 16^th, at a power of 54.7 MW. This is in fact cycle number 195, and the continued and very successful operation of the world's brightest, continuous neutron source for scientific research is only possible thanks to the highly skilled and dedicated reactor team at ILL.    

During this cycle, ILL will welcome more than 500 users who will conduct several hundred experiments in a range of societally relevant areas including environment, energy, health and ICT, covering a range of scientific fields like nuclear, particle and condensed matter physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, engineering and more. They will count on the continuous support of the ILL instrument, science and support facility teams. 

During this winter shutdown, the installation of the new H15 neutron guide has been completed. Its instrument suite offers dramatically increased performance and is due to begin commissioning during the two reactor cycles of this year: D(00)7, D11, Sharp+, SAM and test facility T3. The Endurance programme, which has enabled more than 30 important instrument and infrastructure renewal projects, is now approaching completion. 

In addition, a new data storage solution expanding capacity from 2 PB to 3 PB (and soon 4 PB), all based on open-source software, is up and running for the first time in this cycle. This is the result of six months of dedicated work of the IT team in collaboration with several ILL teams. While anticipating a smooth transition, IT is prepared to swiftly address any minor adjustments that may arise.