Supersource of ultracold neutrons at the WWR-M reactor and the program of fundamental research in physics

Abstract

A high-intensity source of ultracold neutrons (UCNs) and very cold neutrons is being developed based on the WWR-M operating research reactor at the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute for research in the field of fundamental physics and nanostructures. Superfluid helium will be used in this source, which should yield a UCN density of 104 cm−3, which exceeds the density of the currently existing UCN sources (throughout the world) by three orders of magnitude. Having possessed the most intense UCN source, the WWR-M reactor will become an international center of UCN-based fundamental research.