Cavity production for SNS upgrade is completed

After two years of production, RI Research Instruments completed the manufacturing of in total 32 superconducting cavities for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA. The cavities are the key component for the so-called proton power upgrade (PPU) project of SNS, one of the world’s most powerful proton accelerators even before the upgrade.

RI was responsible for the full scope of the cavity production, starting with the niobium procurement, followed by the fabrication and sophisticated surface preparation incl. electropolishing, and finally the clean room assembly. All cavities were shipped under vacuum to Jefferson Lab, a partner lab of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Jefferson Lab is going to perform the cold RF testing of the cavities before assembling them into helium vessels and accelerator modules which will then be shipped to Oak Ridge and installed at the SNS.