The construction of the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), or "super microscope," has been finished in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province and the equipment is now being installed and tested, China's top science academy said.
The CSNS is expected to produce its first neutron beam - a stream of subatomic particles - in autumn and will be open to users in March 2018, said Chen Hesheng, director of the CSNS project and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), according to a statement posted on the WeChat account of CAS on Tuesday.
After it is put into use, China will be the fourth country to have obtained such a neutron source after the U.S., Japan and the UK, according to CAS.
In simple terms, the CSNS is a tool to observe objects at the most detailed level, a "super microscope" that manipulates neutrons to help scientists study the microstructures of substances such as "DNA, crystalline materials and polymerized substances," CAS said.
The project will provide an advanced research platform for scientific and industrial fields, including material science, life science, physics, chemistry, environmental engineering as well as new energy, the report said.
In terms of specific application, the spallation neutron source could be used to test the remaining stress on tracks of high-speed rails and wings of planes to make the transportation safer and more comfortable. The stress level can determine the service life and safety of transport vehicles, but it could not be seen or touched, so its study could help avoid accidents, according to CAS.
While there are nuclear reactors in China that provide neutrons for researchers - such as the China Advanced Research Reactor in Beijing - the country has previously lacked this kind of "spallation" neutron source, according to the official website of CAS. Among the advantages that spallation offers over nuclear neutron generation is that it is cheaper and does not require dangerous nuclear material.
The CSNS was one of the two large-scale scientific facilities included in China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) and is the first of its kind in a developing country, with a budget of 2.2 billion yuan ($319 million), according to a statement of CAS in October 2014.
The CSNS project is based in Dalang township, about 85 kilometers from Guangzhou and about 125 kilometers from Hong Kong. The CSNS will be the first large scientific facility in South China and is expected to boost its scientific and high-tech development.
According to a CAS report in October 2016, one challenge facing China in this field is that its neutron community is relatively small. This is being addressed via training schemes to boost the numbers of scientists and students who will be able to use neutrons for their research. In 2013, the Chinese Physical Society also set up a neutron scattering group to help in this endeavor.
