With this entry we say goodbye to the blogosphere – but not without expressing our thanks to all those who supported and motivated us with hints and photos during the last two and a half years. We hope, our readers will miss us a little bit – always on Fridays…

We are history.

Join us and keep your fingers crossed, too!

Above all, we were really excited because it was the first opportunity to present our new conference bags!

We are at Munich Airport organising our review meeting here. The proposals are reviewed and the international referees make their recommodations for the beam time’s distribution. Did you also submit a proposal? In about two weeks, the results will be published and you will receive an email revealing if your proposal was accepted or not!

We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

Ok, there is some more work, but it is looking pretty good at the moment!

_{A big “Thank you!” to our colleague who took the photo at the manufacturer!}

Do you remember? In the end of February we already wrote about them and explained them and their purpose. This week, three brand-new tubes arrived (we are waiting for another one that will be delivered next week). Now, work at Garching starts – you can’t install them the easy way. We have to do several tests and checks and the installation will be quite tricky due to the lack of space.

We are looking forward to thrilling and beautiful matches!

We like to make the wait until the first kick off more pleasant for you: Which teams do you think does this colleague cheers for?

No, not at all. The fire brigade practises again at the FRM II. This happens periodically – because in a hopefully never occuring emergency, every move has to be perfectly executed! In order to make it more thrilling, special scenarios are made up: Maybe an injured person has to be found and saved or the build-up of smoke complicates the task.

By the way: In the next newsletter that will be published in July, we will show exclusive photos of the installation in the Experimental Hall – the User Office had only been allowed to take photos during the training…

Our referees will meet on June 30^th and July 1^st – you will informed about the results during the following two weeks via email.

We thank all proposers and wish everybody a nice long weekend!

Just read the Call for Proposals and start:

For instruments supported by TUM, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft:
The digital FRM II User Office

For instruments supported by Forschungszentrum Jülich:
The digital JCNS User Office

Thank you!

Please note that in beautiful Bavaria there will be a holiday on Thurdsday (May 5^th) – on that day nobody will be available!

We are looking forward to receiving your proposal!

Well wrapped, both removed parts had been transported to the Neutron Guide Hall East and waited for collection – you can see the containers on the photo below. In the Experimental Hall, the colleagues of the Neutron Optics Group meanwhile adjusted the new plug’s neutron guides.

For the plug’s front part, a special shielded flask had been constructed – you can have a look inside in the picture at the top of the left. Once the plug is on the machine’s sledge, the shielding flask is positioned by using the crane and put down on the plug.

First of all, the machine for the exchange of beam plugs is located in the Experimental Hall directly in front of the beam plug (above on the left: the machine; on the right: the (training) plug). It pulls out the plug by using the sledge it is mounted on (you can see the sledge above on the left). Once the plug is pulled out, the shielding gate that had been positioned directly at the reactor’s wall, is closed (below on the right).

By the way, this very deep pit shall once contain a two-storey underground car park!

1. day: location reached, material for the booth had been delivered – now everything has to be built up!

We dedicated our fourth blog article to them, we were happy when they came back last year – and in the meantime, they are a trio instead of a couple! Two drakes escort the lady across the pond. They are out to impress at least our cat – she looks a little bit scared, doesn’t she?

On our own behalf: Will we meet next week? The User Office will be at the DPG Spring Meeting at Regensburg – find our booth in the “Lichthof” (booth no. 11) from Tuesday on.

The tubes are located inside the moderator tank and contain elements to measure the heavy water’s temperature. Due to an ullage, one of them had been removed. By endoscope one could find similar results on the other – identical – tubes. Thus, all of them have to be replaced. For sure, this was not planned! Unfortunately, you can’t buy such tubes off the peg but they have to be manufactured individually.

Luckily, we have had the material in stock since 2012 but due to the production time we have to wait now…

_{(Thanks to our Reactor Department for information and picture!)}

For the last ten years, JCNS has successfully developed and operated world-class neutron scattering instruments at the best neutron sources worldwide. At Garching for example, ten and a half instruments (BioDIFF is a joint instrument of TUM and FZJ) wait for users and their experiments – and there will be even two more in the new Neutron Guide Hall East.

Our congratulations!

Our picture shows the shielding gate (blue) that will be constructed directly at the reactor’s wall. On the left, there will be the reactor pool – here you can see the “built-in” beam plug (light grey). The machine for the exchange of beam tubes is on the left outside the image section.

To all readers celebrating carnival: Alaaf and Helau!!

You are keen to learn more? You find detailled information on our web page. We will also be happy to answer all your questions – just contact us!

The current plug has only two beam channels. But 40 m away, in the Neutron Guide Hall East, four instruments are eagerly waiting for neutrons. Of those, POWTEX and SAPHiR will share a neutron guide. Therefore we need three neutron guides and thus three beam channels. Unfortunately it is not possible to gouge a hole into the plug later: A new one had to be manufactured.

Further news: The planned reactor cycles for 2016 are online!

But not only the team is present again – the new beam plug had also been delivered! Our current break is mainly due to the exchange of this plug at beam tube 5 because this will create the possibility to provide the Neutron Guide Hall East with neutrons. Thus, we will have a closer look on this topic here on the blog during the next weeks.

First of all the spectacular arrival of the beam plug on January 8^th, 2016. By the way, it was manufactured at the Forschungszentrum Jülich by the Central Institute for Engineering, Electronics and Analytics (ZEA) – Engineering and Technology (ZEA-1) during 2015.

The printed copies are shipped to our subscribers next week. You are no subscriber but like to get a copy? Just send us an email!

Even earlier is the deadline for Rapid Access proposals: It will be on February 23^rd, 2016.

Detailled information about the whole process can be found on our webpage.

Have a nice first Sunday in Advent!

Congratulations to all those who received beam time, we are looking forward to seeing you in Garching next year. BTW, the period for the first cycle after our longer break is fixed now – but please be aware that it can be shifted on short notice!

Looking around on our site and also outside, sometimes the thought touches one that maybe we all are only figures in a real-time strategy…

For sure an unfounded suspicion….

It dates back to the first students participating in the lectures and seminars on the TUM’s Garching site. Due to the lack of tubes as well as buses, they had to march across the fields or ride a bike. Doing this, one often had to fight ones way through thick fog. The river Isar is not that far away!

In fact, this is a really impressive building site and it can be best seen from above. It looks a little bit as if the kids forgot to tidy away toys after playing wit them…

Despite the lack of neutrons, the review of the proposals submitted for Round 20 is in full swing since yesterday. It will lead to the distribution of available beam time – you will learn within the next two weeks, if – and in case “yes” – how many beam days you will get.

We push for all our users!

After the foundation had been laid some time ago, the little house was delievered completely assembled. It just had to be lifted to the right position with the help of a big crane.

Now, cables have to be laid and finally, a nice covering will be installed – it will match our other small buildings then!

Just before the trend sinks into oblivion, we like to make our quick contribution to it. Since a few months, a cat has materialised on the site every now and again. And she stands out due to her curiosity and her desire to cuddle!

We have already smartened ourselves up:

The famous Oktoberfest is in full swing and rules whole Bavaria. Whole Bavaria? Yes, even Garching. To several users’ great surprise, it is impossible to organise hotel rooms at an affordable rate on short notice. This year, many users were really smart and applied for their visit well in advance. Thank you for that – our colleagues at the Visitors’ Service are really happy that they managed to find a bed for all of them!

Short information on our own behalf in order to prevent further enquiries: No, we are not able to book tables at the Oktoberfest. The same goes for next year :(

At the same time, the annual JCNS LabCourse took place here at Garching. More than 50 students from different disciplines used our instruments in order to put their theoretical knowledge (won at the lectures at Jülich last week) into action.

That was really a thrilling week!

In case you forgot your password or have any question: Please don’t hesitate to send us an email or give us a ring!

We are looking forward to receiving your proposal :)

We will build down our booth today. From and to Zaragoza, is only left to say muchas gracias and ¡adios!

That beautiful red brochure by the way is a common one of the German neutron scattering facilities. It was inserted into the conference bags – but many participants take another one from our booth. Do you want to have a look at it even if you are not at Zaragoza? No problem, you can find it online!

We are located at booth no 3. This number is used in the map as well as in the booth’s title. And after reading it, most of our visitors have to laugh (including ourselves)….

Those who overlooked that have to smile after discovering the new HZB bags. Nobody can resist to offer a new home/ castle to such a sweet little “Forschergeist”!

First flying above the Alps – what a thrilling view! From Barcelona we went to Zaragoza by train and finally reached the Auditorio. Here the ECNS takes place and we had to build our booth yesterday.

How about you? Are you also in Zaragoza? Just pay us a visit if you like!

This afternoon, cycle 38a will end and the neutrons will start their summer holidays – and the blog will join them happily. We will be back online from the ECNS and by then, we wish a sunny August to all our readers!

Why? Because two movies of about five minutes shall explain basics of quantum mechanics to students and everybody else interested in this topic in order to promote and present neutron scattering. To apply the explanations to scientific research at JCNS, the recording was done at Garching – to make everything a little more juicy…

We are looking forward to the result!

You have to take care for points one and two yourself – but for point three, we like to provide you with the new MLZ newsletter.

We hope our subscribers have a lot of fun reading it! It is also available as a PDF here – and in case you have not been a subscriber yet, just send us an email and we will be happy to provide you with it!

At that moment, we were all very happy about the successful start into the new cycle…

In case you have to wait during your next measurement – give it a try!

We allow ourselves a good weekend of Digital Detox – and from Monday (July 06th) on we will be available again on all channels!

Like every year, we are looking forward to many visitors!

It is always such a pleasure when something had been finalised and the printed copies are delivered. This was the case this week: The new flyers (in corporate design!) arrived! They inform about the cooperation partners forming the MLZ and present our suite of instruments on a folded plan.

First, they only had a look, after that a crane was mounted and a working platform installed before work could be started: The Egg’s top had to be remediated. The building is not that new anymore and the top had started to leak. During this week, it was cleaned (look at the photo below right: it is really shiny now!) and properly sealed.

In case one dares to go up with the crane, the view is fantastic – the most of you will recognise the Allianz Arena!

_{Many thanks to K. Frey-Grottenthaler for sharing that view!}

A little treat for all of those not being on holiday: Even in 1973, one thought of us bloggers… Or is there any other explanation for this photo of a stork on the Atomic Egg?

At night, they are an amazing eyecatcher: They are illuminated by spotlights using changing colours.

When conducting your next nightly measurements at Garching, just use a wait for a short visit!

At the same time, we celebrate our most silent User Office colleague’s birthday: Five years ago, a grateful user presented us with this Ficus microcarpa. It was a cute bonsai and since has developed into a real (small) tree; it exudes a pleasant sense of calm, never asks annoying questions but listens carefully, and each spring it delights us with new leaves – although it has suffered several dry seasons during its time with us…

They swarm near as soon as somebody gets close. By now, they have learned that the probability is really high to be served some breadcrumbs each time such a tall and frightening shadow appears on the edge.

It is easy to see that the brochure is redesigned to meet the MLZ Corporate Design – but we have not yet chosen the cover….

Therefore, first sneak previews are carried out. Und guess, who also takes the opportunity? Our couple of ducks. Meanwhile, it got luckily access to the pond (see April 10^th, 2015) and is now especially interested in the nearest parking lots.

Make your guess: For which of them will they opt – and what sort of a car do ducks drive? Let’s think about it during the long weekend!

What does this mean to us? Sometimes breakneck jumps into bushes trying to escape from disoriented car drivers, and every lunchtime a much longer walk to the canteen. But hiking shall be very healthy!

Why do they have to make do with the puddle this time? We are afraid, but it is true: They did not give enough notice for their visit. Different departments are involved in all the preparations necessary to grant access to our site. They need some time and forward planning.

Therefore we like to remind all ducks to apply for a visit via the User Office Online System three weeks in advance. Please note that we aim for equal treatment: This is valid not only for ducks but also for all our users!

We like to use the opportunity and wish “Happy Easter” to all our readers – and hopefully some sunbeams!

Thank you!

Important news for our users: The reactor cycles for 2015 had been updated. The longer break – in the first place planned from May on – is shifted to October.

It was spring time in the capital – quite suitable for this conference! At our booth, we could explain the unbeatable advantages of experiments at a research neutron source to a lot of curious visitors. Furthermore we were happy to meet well-known users and colleagues – there was no time to be bored!

Furthermore, we like to congratulate all users who got beam time from proposal round 19! The emails were sent on Wednesday – in case you have not received a feedback on your proposal yet, please check your spam folder!

The referees are diveded into seven groups. During the last weeks, they participated in the online reviewing procedure: They worked the proposals through and formed an opinion. Now, they are meeting for the discussions. They will lead to a common suggestion for the distribution of the available beam time. This suggestion will be presented to the MLZ directors – and they will made the final decision.

This means to all users who had submitted a proposal for this round: You will receive your application’s the result in two weeks at the latest!

To speak frankly: Now we can really kick off!

Did we go to trouble with it? Hardly ever: We developed a layout, arranged the submitted abstracts, set them, looked for special characters, standardised affiliations, corrected typos, produced a table of contents, a list of participants, an index, and finally processed everything for the printery…

Now, the copies are dozing in cartons and dreaming of all the readers – they will get their copy at the conference office in a few days!

In the Neutron Guide Hall East, a mobile crane had to be installed in order to be able to unload the heavy duty truck. You can see that the colleagues of JCNS had their hands full before everything arrived on the spot.

Unfortunately, the parts will have to wait a while. But we will keep close to it and report as soon as there are news!

It took until the end of last year – but now dust can settle a little bit. Until it will go on with the work dedicated directly to the new office and laboratory buildings, because they shall be ready for occupation in 2018!

We arrived early at the office this morning because it is proposal deadline and there is always a lively athmosphere on this day. The phone rings, the mail programme plings, and there are many questions we are happy to answer.

The six most frequent questions – including yours?

• Which instruments do you have? (The Call for Proposals helps)
• I forgot my password! (Don’t worry, we give you a new one)
• How do I complete the proposal form? (Have a look at the manual)
• I can’t upload my 5 pages PDF! (The system accepts only 2 pages)
• When do I get the result? (About two weeks after the review meeting on
  March 5^th-6^th)
• How about financial support? (All details can be found at our web page)

Well, have you already submitted your proposal?

We hope our subscribers have a lot of fun reading it! It is also available as a PDF here – and in case you have not been a subscriber yet, just send us an email and we will be happy to provide you with it!

But what is it?

It is the first delivery for TOPAS, the thermal time-of-flight spectrometer with polarisation analysis: a part of the detector chamber. The detector itself will consist of 289 ³He position sensitive tubes.

We are looking forward to meeting a lot of our users there!

You may have already recognised: this time it will be a different Meeting compared to the former ones. The talks will be held by invited speakers and they shall initiate the discussion about our users’ wishes and demands on us. Our goal is to work out a road map for the next decade: How can we improve our instrument suite even more? Which methods will become more interesting? What has our sample environment to be able to do?

Use the opportunity! Register immediately: Registration

On the one hand, the reactor delivers neutrons to the instruments again since Tuesday and we are happy about a lot of users just dropping in at the User Office for a short chat. On the other hand we are preparing the online registration for the next User Meeting in February. It will be opened next week – so watch out for our circular!

And finally the next newsletter shall be sent out before Christmas. So we are collecting articles, correct, rewrite, shorten, extend, and typeset them before we can sent out the proofs, incorporate amendments, improve photos…. It is a mound of work – but we enjoy doing it!

At the moment, all of this is not easy to imagine. During the last weeks, the soil was cleared away and since a few days, pipes have been laid out, and there is the usual chaos at building sites. We just show this picture because we hope that users whose beamtime is allocated in the last cycle 2014 (= from next week on), won’t get that anxious when they come up from the underground!

Just have a quick check if all your publications resulting from experiments at the MLZ have already been added. In case not – just provide your local contact with the data and don’t forget the DOI. It will be really easy for him to update the database: entering DOI – controlling the automatically completed mandatory fields – ready!

We are looking forward to receiving many publication data!

The design came from the User Office and therefore we were very, very keen to see the result in real life. We like it very much – and what do our readers think?

The number is composed of the external ones submitted by our users for the two deadlines per year, of those for internal research and of those for things like maintenance work or improvements at the instruments.

No, quite the opposite: it is the fire brigade. They bring their own elevator and have a glance into the office. The reason for their excursion was maintenance work at the reactor building’s exterior wall. Wearing helmet and safety harnass, the worker was directly driven to his site of operation.

These tours are fully booked really fast – many like to cast an eye over the neutron source and listen to explanations of its and the instruments’ functioning. The scientists who guide the groups enjoy this day, too – it is always a pleasure to bring ones own work home to the public.

The User Office is responsible for all graphic issues and our colleagues of the Visitors’ Service organise and coordinate the tours. An exhausting day!

We digged really deep in our achives and found this thrilling view – only suitable for those who don’t suffer from vertigo! The photo was taken from the hghest point of the Atomic Egg. On the right you can see the reactor pool on the highest floor. The instruments are located deep down.

At the bottom left you can see the conference centre. It was really tricky to get a nice photo of it because of all the building sites around. On the right you look into the impressive foyer where breaks and poster sessions took place.

It was our booth that was in the centre of attention, what else? We can’t think of another explanation for all those users and colleagues who looked in on us in order zu say “Hello”!

At the top on the left the participants flock into the plenary hall. It was a really special feeling to take a seat on the former chairs of the members of parliament – or even give a talk there like Winfried Petry, one of the Scientific Directors of the MLZ (on the right).

Just rack your brains! You solved the mystery? Then just pay a visit to the MLZ booth at the SNI2014 at Bonn between Sunday and Tuesday and fetch your prize – we are looking forward to welcoming many visitors!

And this is what it looks like at half past eight in the morning: The white coats can take a rest for another half an hour – then their temporary owners will arrive and the last day of experimenting starts!

First, the roof was lifted. The transport containers inside were taller than a man and they could only be opened with cohesive forces. Their lids had to be removed with the help of a crane, too.

And what was inside? Each one contained one new converter plate for the FRM II’s converter facility. It is explained in detail here. There you can also learn what the dimensions of such a plate are: only about 18 cm x 25 cm! In the midst of this impressive delivery scene it lost its importance…

What is this about? One card deals with the most important places on-site, another one with the possibilities to find something to eat. In case you have a smartphone, you can even use the qr-codes to rummage for the meal planes. Two cards are dedicated to the public transport, explaining how to reach the hotels at Garching as well as the airport and main station. Qr-codes for the vending machine at the underground stations shall help to provide you always with the right ticket.

Do you have feedback? Don’t hesitate!

A big thank you to the reactor division: They did a really great job during the last days and especially the last night!

And what about this blog now? The User Office can now again take care for the users – work ist back… But we came to like blog writing and therefore we decided to continue :)

Now is the time for keeping the fingers crossed – and also all readers of this blog are in demand! If we try hard to do so, 20 MW will be reached tonight and user operation reopened tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

“Theoretically” sounds a little bit suspicious, doesn’t it? You are right…. Our reactor devision is working at full stretch but after the break of six months we have to wait a few more days. This blog will update you as soon as there are news – just have a look during the next week!

It’s always good to have something to look forward to – and we try to shorten this waiting time for you with the latest newsletter, published online today. Next week, printed copies will be sent to the subscribers.

You have not subscribed yet but like to get your copy? Just send us an email!

At the bottom of a light well, a snake had curled up. After a visiual inspection – in everybody’s opinion, it was a harmless grass snake being in difficulties – and a short discussion, a task force was formed quickly and the intrepid rescue operation introduced. After climbing carefully in the light well through a cellar window, the reptile could be directed into a bucket. Only a few metres away, liberty lured. It was released near the fence that borders on the surroundings of the river Isar.

Applause to all persons involved!

Some things you can already recognise: on the left in red and white the six anvil press for high pressure radiography and diffraction SAPHiR and in the centre a green object – there the thermal time-of-flight spectrometer with polarisation analysis TOPAS is constructed. In the background, at the end of the hall, there is the EDM, the neutron electric dipole moment measurement.

Neutrons will come from the right, via the guides from the reactor building traversing the connecting building.

And by the way: The User Office is located directly above the hall!

On the one hand, it will be no more possible to carry out an experiment without entering all samples in our new Sample Tracker beforehand. When doing this you will be immediatly informed about which samples you have to register with our radiation protection team personally.

On the other hand, we abolished the instruction movie. Instead of that, wie provide a slide-based instruction. You can easily access it online and carry it out before visiting us in Garching.

All information can be found here.

Any of your queries regarding these two new features will find an answer at the User Office – just contact us!

P.S.: Our next deadlines are fixed!

Within the pit, a walkable media canal is constructed. Cables for electricity, data, communication and steering technique as well as pipes for heating, fresh and waste water need quite a lot of space – even more because in case of necessity, repair work shall be easy and comfortable. It will also connect the two planned buildings to the prevailing system. The photo shows the start of planking.

We are really looking forward to the new buildings – but what was teared up there was the meadow where our summer party always took place. That makes us a little bit sad….

Congratulations to all users who received beam time – we look forward to meeting you at the MLZ after the long maintenance break!

An announcement on our own behalf: The User Office System will be offline for about one hour on today’s Friday between 13:00 and 15:00. Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience!

Rainbow and Atomic Egg – und both in the evening of the soccer game Germany vs. Algeria in the round of the last sixteen! Our colleague could not resist the subject and therefore whipped out her mobile phone on Monday. She was so kind to give us permission to use it here. Now we hope it will be a lucky charm for tonight’s game of the German team against France…

By the way, if you are wondering about the strange pit in the foreground: That will be next week’s topic!

Therefore this time they had to be focussed even more. By this, we managed to watch the second half between the end of the first day’s discussions and the traditional dinner. Fortunately, the conference centre offered public screening and we could keep our fingers crossed and finally celebrate like the other guests!

By the way: The User Office team keeps its fingers crossed also for all our users. We hope, you will celebrate, too – when we spread the review’s results via email in about two weeks!

But we are envied, too: Receiving a call at the User Office with the window wide open, the callers often ask suspiciously our whereabouts. The loud craoking is quite audible also on the phone! So everybody imagines us enjoying ourselves sitting comfortably by an enchanted lake.

Fine it would be, were this the case!

The answer: “Off to Container!” And this is why there had a new container building been errected just behind the TUM’s Physics Department. During the last few weeks, the teams of MEPHISTO, NEPOMUC, and RESEDA had moved to the country.

For safety reaasons, the building is monitored by closed-circuit TV – but (unfortunately?) a live link-up is and will not be provided…

This year it was a special party because we invited also the families. Many accepted the invitation and therefore it became a really nice and splendid party!

And what did the User Office do? Apart from countless statistics dealing with user operation, we designed and produced the whole event’s style: One could find it from the report of nearly 400 pages to the name badges.

Invited by N. Arend, head of the Project Group “Electronics/Instrument Control and Detectors”, about 80 participants discussed lively between the talks given by K.-H. Otto (Sachverständigenbüro Otto), P. Göttlicher (DESY) und G. Vehres (JCNS-1, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH). Practical demonstrations by Mr. Otto illustrated the theoretical concepts.
_{(Details: N. Arend)}

From a distance it looks like a simple black wall. But on closer examination, it turns out to be a sophisticated crosswise textured plaster. You as this blog’s reader are always really close: Form an opinion about it by clicking on the picture!

UO: MLZ-User Office, hello!
User: Hi, I am just completing the proposal form and there is a question.
UO: How can I help you?
User: I shall decide if I like to get internal beam time or not.
UO: You have to check “no”. As a normal user you don’t have access to internal beam time.
User: That is not very nice, I think. I understood that the next beam time will be scheduled in winter time.
UO: ???
User: That will be really cold if I have to be outside for the whole experimental time. What can I do to get beam time inside?

Have you already submit your proposal?

_{(The call’s content is in accordance with the facts, but it is no recording.)}

For instruments operated by TUM, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft please use this link, for instruments operated by Forschungszentrum Jülich this one.

Any further questions? Don’t hesitate to give us a call or write us an email, we will be happy to help you!

We are looking forward to receiving many, many proposals!

In this picture belonging to the initial phase (we assume it was shot in the end of the fifties), you can marvel on the one hand at its futuristic appearance due to the very gleeming surface, on the other hand at the clean bus driver (who had taken some high-ranking guests just a few minutes before).

When looking at this favourite photo, one question always occurs: Where did the wooden chair come from???
In case you have an idea – don’t hesitate to contact us!

We are standing between Neutron Guide Hall East (left) and reactor building (right). On the left you can see three light surfaces and another, bigger one, on the right behind the deposited things. These are the prepared wall penetrations for guides delivering neutrons to the instruments in the new hall. Starting all together from the reactor building, they will fan out inside the connection building and separately enter the Neutron Guide Hall East.

We enjoyed the time at Dresden very much and therefore we like to thank all our visitors for their curiosity and nice chats!

We are looking forward to welcomig many visitors – just drop in at our booth! It will be really easy to find us: We are at the “Hoersaalzentrum” near the main entrance.

Preparations had been extensive. First of all, the moderator tank has to be freed from heavy water and vacuum dried. Afterwards, light water could be poured in. In the figure, you can clearly see the pressure’s step-by-step increase within the tank from March 13^th on. 24h later, the maximum operating pressure of about 2 bar was reached. Finally on March 18^th, an over-pressure of nearly 2.5 bar could be kept for the required period of 60 min. An expert supervised the successful procedure.
_{(Figure and detailed information: A. Kastenmüller, Technical Director FRM II)}

Big events don’t organise themselves and therefore many, many helping hands are necessary. The User Office contributed four hands and we had a lot of fun like always! In the run-up, we designed invitation cards, the celebration brochure, programme cards as well as the guests’ and helpers’ badges. On Wednesday, we were asked to show commitment: We took part in construction, receiving the guests, and filling up the brochures. At 22:30, all organisers and helpers were very exhausted but at the same time really happy about the successful party. We are looking forward to the next event!

We are now awaiting their proposal. Incubation periods as well as breeding places can of course only be accepted and allocated after a thorough review!

This week, a scaffolding was put up in order to start sealing the roof. The User Office is located above the building site – so we won’t miss anything!

But this time… Maybe some of them fear the break and link it to a lacking ability to pay by any chance? It is long ago that we worked through a staple more than four centimetres high on one single day!

Just check it – did you already send everything for your last visit’s reimbursement? We could surpass ourselves…

Therefore the User Office team was welcomed on Monday: “What are you doing here? Don’t you have six months holiday?”

That is not quite the case. We write a blog now.