Why do we need ISIS-II?
To enable UK scientists to have access to the materials discovery techniques that they will need in future decades.
- UK scientists make heavy use of materials analysis techniques to enable new materials to be created to solve global challenges, improve industrial processes and contribute to curiosity-driven studies. The UK currently has world-class facilities for materials analysis, including the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.
- ISIS has been operating since 1987. It has been, and continues to be, used by thousands of UK academic and industrial researchers for materials studies, and has attracted significant overseas investment. It is one of the UK’s key national science infrastructures.
- By the late 2030s, ISIS will be coming to the end of its operational life. In addition, advances in the technologies associated with accelerators, and with neutron and muon instrumentation, provide significant opportunities to develop new capabilities for neutron and muon studies of materials.
- ISIS-II is therefore envisaged as the replacement for the current ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. It will equip the UK (and international) community with the research tools it will continue to need for materials discovery, building on the success of ISIS, maintaining the UK’s lead in this area and remaining comparable in capability with other international sources.
- The science reasons for needing neutron and muon techniques for materials study remain as strong as ever – the breadth and depth of studies possible with neutron and muon methods continue to grow and will be needed well into the future across a very broad range of physical and life science disciplines.
The EU is constructing the ESS – why do we need to replace ISIS?
The UK community will need access to ISIS-like capability, in addition to the ESS, for both capacity and capability reasons, over coming decades.
- The ESS will come online in the middle of this decade and will ramp up its capabilities (neutron flux, number of instruments) over the following decade.
- The UK is a partner in ESS construction, and it is anticipated that the UK will partner in ESS operations.
- This commitment of the UK to the ESS has been made with ISIS fully operational, as it is recognised that the ESS is not a replacement for ISIS and won’t be a replacement for the proposed ISIS-II. This is for both capacity and capability reasons: the UK’s likely contribution to ESS operations will result in a very much smaller number of instrument-days being delivered to the UK community than the community currently uses through ISIS. In addition, ISIS is a different sort of accelerator-based neutron source to the ESS (ISIS is a short-pulse source, ESS a long-pulse source), and this means that the two facilities provide different capabilities in some areas – there is complementarity between them, and so the UK and EU will need access to both types of source in the future.
Will proposing ISIS-II affect the UK’s commitment to the ILL?
No. ILL provides an essential resource for the UK and European research community, complementary to ISIS.
- The UK is a long-term ILL associate, contributing 25% of its operating costs, and has committed to the ILL up to at least 2030.
- The UK’s commitment to the ILL runs in parallel with its operation of ISIS. UK researchers use both facilities as they provide complementary capabilities in some areas.
- There will continue to be a strong case for the UK having access to ILL capabilities, in addition to those provided by ISIS (and ESS) well into the future. ISIS is fully supportive of the UK’s commitment to the ILL, recognising it contributes to the UK’s (and Europe’s) research infrastructure capabilities in a unique way.
- ISIS-II is not a replacement facility for ILL, for both capability and capacity reasons.
Facilities such as ISIS are very energy-intensive – is it viable to consider such facilities in the future?
Yes. ISIS-II will seek to minimise its carbon footprint, but will still use a lot of energy to run. But the benefits, in terms of materials discovery to contribute to global issues, are significant and essential for the UK’s science base.
- ISIS is very conscious of the need to reduce its carbon impact. Sustainability considerations are now a key part of all ISIS instrumentation and accelerator projects, and the facility is actively trying to reduce its carbon footprint (through replacing equipment with more efficient versions, installing photovoltaics, etc.).
- ISIS-II will use the latest ideas and technology to reduce accelerator and instrument energy usage. Sustainability is a key factor in the design and feasibility work that is ongoing for ISIS-II, and ISIS has employed a dedicated person to work on the sustainability of the facility.
- The outputs of ISIS now, and of ISIS-II in the future, contribute to the development of new materials and improved processes for energy storage, energy efficiency and climate change issues. Without facilities such as ISIS, the ability of UK researchers to contribute to these areas will be much more limited.
ISIS-II will cost a lot of money. It is realistic?
We believe so, based on similar projects being constructed elsewhere in the world.
- Depending on the option chosen for ISIS-II, costs are likely to be between £500m and £3000m. This is a very large amount of money – but similar to other large-scale science infrastructure projects in construction or being proposed.
- Funding models for ISIS-II need to be explored as part of the feasibility work for the facility. We could imagine that great international contributions would be needed compared to ISIS.
- ISIS already attracts significant investment from overseas partners. We imagine further developing overseas partnership to contribute towards ISIS-II.
- A 2017 study of the economic impact of ISIS for the UK found a return-on-investment for the facility over the first 30 years of its life of 214%, taking into account construction and operating costs. We would anticipate something similar for ISIS-II.
What is the process for getting ISIS-II funded and where are we in this?
The project is in its feasiblity phase at present. We are aiming at construction to be started from the early 2030s, with the facility operational from around 2040.
- The UKRI Infrastructure Fund has supported initial feasibility studies for ISIS-II. An award of around £5m has enabled initial work on accelerator and target options, together with development of the overall case for the facility.
- Further, more detailed, feasibility work is needed on the possible accelerator options. ISIS will seek funding for this work from the UKRI Infrastructure fund during 2024 / 2025.
- It is likely that, as part of the request for further feasibility funding, DSIT will review the entire case for ISIS-II to provide reassurance that the project is suitable for larger funding.
- Full funding for ISIS-II will be required early in the next decade, in order that construction could start in the early 2030s to enable an operational facility around 2040.
