synchrotron – Lightsources.org

Protecting Saskatchewan lakes from contamination

2020/10/192020/10/19

Using the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, a University of Saskatchewan-led research team has developed a method for monitoring uranium contaminants in mine tailings using samples from McClean Lake, SK.

While mining companies work to extract as much uranium as possible from processed ore, small amounts remain in the solid and liquid residue—called tailings—left over from the milling process.

To protect the downstream environment from potential impacts of the solid waste, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission requires companies to monitor the chemistry of uranium and other potentially harmful elements in their tailings facilities.

Numerous researchers have studied the chemistry of nickel, arsenic, selenium and molybdenum in Orano Canada’s tailings management facility at McClean Lake, but to date little was known about residual uranium. One of the challenges has been the extremely low concentrations of the element left after processing at Orano’s ore mill, which began operating in 1997.

Read more on the Canadian Light Source website

Image: Arthur Situm conducting research at SXRMB beamline. Photo by David Stobbe for USask.

Opening of ESRF-Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS), a new generation of synchrotron

2020/08/252020/08/25

25 August 2020 – A brilliant new light shines in Grenoble, France, with the opening of the ESRF-Extremely Brilliant Source (ESRF-EBS), the first-of-a-kind fourth-generation high-energy synchrotron. After a 20-month shutdown, scientific users are back at the ESRF to carry out experiments with the new EBS source.

The ring-shaped machine, 844 metres in circumference, generates X-ray beams 100 times brighter than its predecessor’s, and 10 trillion times brighter than medical X-rays. This intense X-ray beam hails a new era for science to understand the complexity of materials and living matter at the nanometric level. ESRF-EBS will contribute to tackling global challenges in key areas such as health, environment, energy and new industrial materials, and to unveiling hidden secrets of our natural and cultural heritage through the non-destructive investigation of precious artefacts and palaeontological treasures. A shining example of international cooperation, EBS has been funded by 22 countries joining forces to construct this innovative and world-unique research infrastructure with an investment of 150 million euros over 2015-2022, lighting the way for more than a dozen projects worldwide, including in the United States and Japan.

“The opening of the first high-energy fourth-generation synchrotron to users is a landmark for the whole X-ray science community. We are all thrilled to envisage the revolutionary science to be carried out and the new applications that will start to emerge. All ESRF staff should be commended for such an achievement, attained on time and on budget in spite of the current circumstances,” says Miguel Ángel García Aranda, chair of the ESRF council.

Read more on the ESRF website

Image: Panoramic view of the ESRF. Credit: S. Candé.

ARIEs as key resources for the five Horizon Europe Missions

2020/07/282020/07/28

Moon-shot missions, such as those of Horizon Europe, require exceptional solutions, and the world-leading Analytical Research Infrastructures of Europe (ARIEs) are one of the key places those solutions can be sought. The ARIE Joint Position Paper highlighting how the common, complementary approach will help address the societal challenges of the Horizon Europe Missions framework programme was presented today.

“The Analytical Research Infrastructures of Europe (ARIEs) provide unique windows into the workings of the world around us”, says Caterina Biscari, Chair of LEAPS and Director of the ALBA Synchrotron in Spain. “The cross-border cooperation within Europe allows for harnessing the power of its analytical research infrastructures collectively, to fuel the cutting-edge R&D required by the five Horizon Europe Missions. Nowhere else in the world is this readily possible.”

The ARIEs are centres of scientific and technological excellence, delivering services, data and know-how to a growing and diverse user community of more than 40,000 researchers in academia and industry, across a range of domains: the physical sciences, energy, engineering, the environment and the earth sciences, as well as medicine, health, food and cultural heritage. They include powerful photon sources, such as synchrotrons, laser systems and free-electron lasers; sources of neutrons, ions and other particle beams; and facilities dedicated to advanced electron-microscopy and high magnetic fields.

Read more on the MAX IV website