ISIS and ESS Sign MOU

ISIS has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Spallation Source (ESS) concerning an extensive programme of technological collaboration, ranging from accelerator diagnostics to data analysis.

The newly agreed technical collaboration will open the door for the mutual development of components and instrument technologies, as well as the exchange of research and technical staff. Importantly, it is expected to help both facilities better leverage development costs.

Owned and operated by STFC the ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences and today Europe’s only pulsed spallation source.

The ESS is being developed in Lund, Sweden and construction is due to start this year.

“By using common technologies we can reduce costs and risks for both ESS construction and ISIS upgrades, and in future operations,” says Robert McGreevy, Director of ISIS.

The United Kingdom plays an important role within the European neutron science community, as home to ISIS, but also as a founding member of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, a leading reactor based neutron source. ESS is a next generation spallation neutron source, and will build upon the pioneering work done at ISIS.