The Bragg Institute is the strongest neutron and X-ray scattering group in Australia. It is located at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's (ANSTO) site just outside Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. The centrepiece of its activities is the new OPAL research reactor, along with its state-of-the-art neutron-beam instruments.

In the first phase, a suite of nine neutron beam instruments will be available. For these instruments there will be a selection of sample environments such as cryostats, furnaces magnets and more available for experiments. ANSTO - the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation - expects to add more instruments within five years. The facility has the capacity for further expansion, including potential for a second neutron guide hall. A suite of ancillary equipment will enable studies at different temperatures, pressures and magnetic field

The OPAL reactor was shut down last July following the partial displacement of some fuel plates discovered during a routine fuel change. Prior to the shutdown, OPAL had successfully operated for a year during its commissioning process. According to ANSTO's "return to service program" it is expected that full power operation will be achieved before the end of May.


Reformed reactor:
OPAL is a state-of-the-art 20 megawatt pool reactor which uses low enriched uranium fuel and is cooled by water. It is a multi-purpose facility for radioisotope production, irradiation services and neutron beam research.
Type Pool
Core Compact, low enriched uranium, water cooled
Thermal Power
Up to 20MW
Neutron Flux
3 x 1014 neutrons per square cm per second
Installations
Cold neutron source, Hot neutron source
Irradiation facilities, Silicon transmutation facilities
Reactor Beam
Approximately 500m2 for 4 thermal,
Neutron Beam
Approximately 2600m2 for 13 thermal
Hall hot and cold neutron instruments Hall and cold neutron instruments
1 thermal and 1 cold neutron beam 3 cold neutron guides with 2 hot neutron beams supermirror coatings 3 thermal neutron guides with supermirror coatings.

Picture courtesy Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) 
Check out the Official ANSTO web site to see the views of construction:


Instruments named after Australian fauna
Reference Set of Initial 9 Neutron Beam Instruments:
ECHIDNA High-Resolution Powder Diffractometer
PLATYPUS Reflectometer
TAIPAN 3-Axis Spectrometer
KOALA Quasi-Laue Diffractometer
QUOKKA Small-Angle Neutron Scattering
WOMBAT High-Intensity Powder Diffractometer
KOWARI Residual-Stress Diffractometer
PELICAN Polarisation Analysis Spectrometer
SIKA Cold neutron 3 Axis Spectrometer.
Check out the Official ANSTO web site to see a good description of each instrument:
Bragg Institute - The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)

Information extracted from
Bragg Institute - The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)