The proposal of the Province of Saskatchewan for building a nuclear reactor for scientific research on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan was unanimously endorsed at a gathering of Canadian scientists in Saskatoon on Saturday.
The event was the annual meeting of the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering (CINS), which represents over 400 Canadian researchers and students from universities and industry that use neutron beams to study advanced materials.
"Our members are very excited by the proposal to build a new neutron beam research reactor here," said Dominic Ryan, President of CINS. "The strong support and enthusiasm by the university, the city, and the province to build this visionary facility is very clear."
The proposed facility, called the Canadian Neutron Source (CNS), will be a complement to the Canadian Light Source (CLS). Locating these together at the university would enhance the potential research impacts and greatly increase the stature of Saskatchewan in scientific research. Because both are scientific user facilities, greater numbers of foreign scientists, as well as researchers from all over Canada, would travel here to conduct their research.
"These are complementary research tools because neutrons and light see materials in very different ways," said Dominic Ryan. "Taking the results from both yields a more complete understanding than either method could provide separately."
The CNS would supply neutron beams to an array of research instruments in much the same way that the storage ring at the CLS supplies very intense light beams to its instruments.
"The CNS will use a small reactor core, about the size of a beer keg," said Dominic Ryan.
The CNS will support research on materials of many kinds, including bio-materials and pharmaceuticals for the medical and life sciences. It will support a spectrum of research and development, from fundamental research into new exotic materials, such as superconductors which have no electrical resistance, to development of industrial materials and manufacturing processes.
