With the recent "warm commissioning" of its linear accelerator, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) has passed a crucial test and milestone on its way to completion in 2006.
The SNS's linear accelerator, or linac, is composed of two sections: the "warm," or room temperature section, and a superconducting section that operates at temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero. Los Alamos National Laboratory, part of the team of six DOE national laboratories collaborating on the SNS construction project, is responsible for the warm linac.