National Research Infrastructure
The Canadian Neutron Facility (CNF)
CINS Briefing to the Government Caucus on Post-Secondary Education and Research Chicoutimi, QC, August 20, 2002
National user facilities for research have become a central part of modern science and technology. The Federal Government has a clear and indispensable role to play in constructing and operating national user facilities. Their capital and operation costs lie well outside the reach of individuals or even teams of researchers and can only be met through the support of the Federal Government.
In Canada we currently have three national user facilities, which are dedicated to materials research: the Tri-University Meson Facility (TRIUMF) in British Columbia, the Canadian Light Source (CLS) nearing completion in Saskatchewan, and the Neutron Program for Materials Research (NPMR) based at a research reactor in Ontario. In full operation, these facilities will draw thousands of researchers from all across Canada to work on hundreds of independent projects each year. In addition, international visitors from around the world work both as collaborators on Canadian-led projects and also as project leaders with Canadian teams.
The educational contribution made by our national user facilities cannot be over-emphasised. Many of the Canadian researchers working at these facilities are graduate students, our next generation of scientists and future leaders in technology. Exposing them to a vibrant international research environment in Canada is essential to keep them and their expertise here. Having such facilities in Canada also helps foster a culture of knowledge and innovation. The instruments and the instrument scientists are here in Canada. Developments in knowledge, techniques and instrumentation are made here and remain available within Canada for the benefit of the whole Canadian scientific community. By managing and operating our own national facilities we can lead in technological and scientific advancements, rather than simply use the existing facilities of other nations as they stand.
Canada's neutron beam laboratory is in urgent need of replacement with a modern neutron facility, which includes a cold-neutron source. The current reactor (NRU) on the Chalk River site has served Canada's materials scientists since 1958, but does not meet the emerging needs of new materials researchers. Canada's investment in neutron beam facilities in the past has allowed Canadians to assume a leadership role in this important area of materials science. It was this investment that paved the way for the pioneering work of Professor Bertram Brockhouse, who invented techniques for inelastic neutron scattering that are now used all over the world. This work was recognized at the highest level internationally, with the awarding of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering (CINS) represents more than 250 Canadian scientists and engineers drawn from university, industrial, and government laboratories. Our membership makes extensive use of neutron beam facilities to answer topical questions in physics, chemistry, biology, materials science and engineering. The problems on which we work are at the forefront of materials research, a critical area that underpins much of the technology on which Canada will depend to build our future industrial competitiveness. We require access to neutron beams for research on materials of all kinds: metals, alloys, ceramics, composites, magnetic, electronic and superconducting materials. The cold neutron source will expand our capabilities to the study of polymers, biomedical materials, foods and drugs. For all of this research, neutron beam facilities are crucial and provide information that is not accessible by any other technique.
Since 1994 there has been a persistent call for the construction of a new Canadian Neutron Facility (CNF). This call has been supported by a wide variety of national organisations, including NSERC, NRC, CINS and the Canadian Association of Physicists. The Principals of the leading universities in Canada have written to the Federal Government expressing their support of the project, as have hundreds of individual research scientists. While the CNF is apparently viewed favourably in principle by our government, the final decision to fund this key element of Canada's scientific infrastructure has yet to be made.
Internationally our friends and competitors in the US, Australia, Japan, and Germany are moving ahead with ambitious plans to upgrade their neutron beam infrastructure. These initiatives are attracting key Canadian scientists away. Further delays in funding and building the CNF will only erode Canada's capabilities in neutron scattering, capabilities, which took 40 years to establish. Canadian neutron scatterers are recognised around the world as first-class research scientists: indeed both the Scientific Director of the new Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the director of the neutron facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Washington are Canadians. A positive commitment to the CNF is needed in the immediate future to ensure that a competitive national facility exists in Canada, to serve our needs in post-secondary education and research. We also need to retain key, highly qualified personnel to enable this facility to be built and operated for the maximum benefit of Canadian researchers, students and citizens.
