LAHN: The Argentinean Neutron Beams Laboratory and its applications to the study of cultural heritage

AURELIANO TARTAGLIONE ; KARINA PIERPAULI; FLORENCIA CANTARGI; JAVIER SANTISTEBAN ; JOSEFINA MARÍA SCHWEICKARDT; GABRIELA AURELIO

Portsmouth

Congreso; SR2A-Synchrotron Radiation and Neutrons in Art and Archaeology; 2018

Mary Rose Museum - Diamond Synchrotron

The RA-10 is a 30MW multi-purpose research reactor currently under construction in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by its National Atomic Energy Comission (CNEA) which will start operation in late-2021. It was designed to satisfy national and regional demand for radioisotopes, for nuclear materials testing and for research using neutron beams. In 2015 an additional project was launched, the ?Neutron Beams Laboratory for the RA-10 reactor?, named LAHN, aimed at implementing state-of-the-art instruments, developing a user community and training the laboratory staff. At present, two instruments are under development for the first stage of LAHN: (i) a neutron imaging instrument (called ASTOR) and (ii) a multi-purpose diffractometer optimized for non-destructive studies of large objects (called ANDES). Both instruments will be able to perform a variaty of applications in the study of cultural heritage.We present here a short review of the main work which has been done in the last years using neutron imaging in Argentina, and the future plans for the development of this technique in the country. Most of the experiments were carried out in the nuclear reasearch reactor RA-6 which also belongs to CNEA and is located in Bariloche. Several objects that belong to the Heritage and Historical Institute of Buenos Aires City (Patrimonio e Instituto Histórico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires) and to the National Museum of Patagonia were studied using the neutron facility that operates since 2012.