2023-09-28 19:00:07
The Laue-Langevin Institute (ILL), in Grenoble, in May 2021. FRANCOIS HENRY/REA
Will French scientists become partially blind, losing their ability to see into matter? It is in substance thealert launched at the end of August by the French Neutronics Society (SFN)representing the community keen on a particular technology, neutron scattering.
This technology, taking advantage of the small size of these particles, as massive as the protons with which they form the nuclei of atoms, is a way of probing the structure of solid, soft or liquid materials. A flow of neutrons penetrates a target and emerges disturbed by the “objects” encountered as light as hydrogen. Enough to study the interior of batteries, fuel cells, hydrogen tanks, filter membranes for desalinating sea water or components of nuclear power plants… To only talk about applications linked to the energy transition.
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But the position of France, tied for second in the world with Germany, is weakening. “The French instrumental park [utilisant des neutrons] which represented 13% of the global stock in the 2000s will only correspond to 1% by 2035”, regrets the letter from the SFN. The number of devices allowing experiments to be carried out, « by 29 instruments, (…) went to 9 and (…) could drop to 2″. Meanwhile, the United States, China and Japan are increasing their capacities.
From leader to the second division
The French problem comes from the disappearance of neutron production infrastructures, each of which houses several instruments. In 2019, the French Orphée spring, powered by a nuclear reactor, closed. All that remains is the reactor at the Laue-Langevin Institute (ILL), in Grenoble, which is international equipment, shared mainly with Germany and the United Kingdom. The ILL represents around 40% of European capacities. The rest is provided by Germany, England and Switzerland, which still have national sources.
“We have noticed a drop in the activity of French researchers in neutronics since the closure of Orphée”points out Pascale Launois, the president of the SFN, who cites figures from the French Federation of Neutron Diffusion: from around thirty articles per month co-signed by French people, we went to less than sixteen on average over the period from March 2022 to March 2023.
“France was leader, and risks losing more than forty years of expertise, and playing in the second division”regrets Frédéric Ott, researcher at the CEA at the Léon Brillouin laboratory (LLB) and on the board of directors of the SFN.
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