Research Reactor Applications
Research reactors are crucial to improving human health, growing more food and manufacturing better industrial products.
| IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE | ||
| Research
reactors are used to produce neutrons. However, it is not obvious to
most of the people how the fruits of neutron research influence our
daily life.
Research with neutrons started with their discovery by J. Chadwick in 1932 and gained momentum after the mid 1950s by intense use of neutron scattering techniques applied by thousands of researchers. Neutrons support the construction and safety control of parts of new cars or airplanes; they are used in information technology to develop new materials for magnetic devices. They help to improve plastics and detergents. One of the major applications of research reactors is in the production of isotopes, which are used in hospitals in diagnostics and treatment of cancer. In order to understand, why neutrons are of interest to physicians, biologists, geologists, physicists and chemists in research and development and in many industrial applications it is necessary to know the special nature of neutrons and their interaction with matter: |
Neutrons
are electrically neutral! They are highly penetrating and can test
materials non-destructively. Neutrons have a magnetic moment because
of its spin. Magnetic structures can be investigated with neutrons,
which helps to develop new magnetic storage devices.
The spin helps to make measurements of material properties more precisely. Dynamics of molecules and lattices can be studied, as the energy of the neutrons is similar to the elementary excitations in solids. Structural information from 10-15 m to 10-5 m (10 orders of magnitude!) can be studied using neutrons, with common applications being between 10-11 m to 10-5 m. Their sensitivity to light atoms is ideal for investigation of biological materials. |
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NEUTRON
APPLICATIONS
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| Hot
cells for radioisotope production in Korea |
Instrument
for measuring residual stress |
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