Great success for the UCANS-8 conference that has gathered more than 130 researchers from around the world to think together about the future of neutron beam studies. According to the participants, this conference appears to be historic, as it was held at a critical moment in neutron science, which is evolving from studies with reactor neutron sources to accelerator-driven beam studies of any size: from the future European Spallation Source (ESS) to compact sources. .
Over the last 50 years, the study materials by means of neutron beams has been dominated by a successful combination of large international facilities (European ILL Facility in France, SNS at Oak Ridge in the United States, J-Parc in Japan), supported by networks of national facilities, such as the Orpheus reactor in France (LLB). Recent advances in accelerator technology and neutron beam design are now making it possible to conceive high-current accelerator-driven neutron facilities, which will play an important role in neutron technology and neutron science.
So, neutron studies using compact neutron sources controlled by an accelerator are becoming increasingly important as they can cover all areas: materials science, engineering and nuclear physics, biology, energy technologies information, etc … To promote these activities, the Union for Accelerator-Driven Neutron Sources (UCANS) was created in 2010. Its 8th Annual International Conference in 2019 has shown the magnitude of this shift, where these less expensive and more flexible new neutron sources will be able to compete with neutron beams from reactors.