The Max von Laue Paul Langevin Institute (ILL), located in Grenoble (France), was founded in January 1967.
The ILL High Flow Reactor (HFR) operates at a thermal output of 58.3 MW, using a single fuel element of enriched uranium. The neutrons produced are guided to the 40 instruments where scientists perform their experiments.
There are very diverse areas that can benefit from research at the ILL, among which can be cited: pharmacy, biology, chemistry, environment, geology, industry or research in fundamental and applied physics and nanotechnology, among others.
Direct applications in the area of biosciences are related to studies of proteins, enzymes, new drugs, in vivo cellular processes or passage of drugs through cell membranes.
In the area of energy, for example, they allow catalysts to be studied and thus improve chemical yields, superconducting materials that will one day allow energy to be transported without any loss or the development of new solar cells based on organic materials.
Spanish participation
Spain was the first country to join the ILL with the status of associate scientific member in 1987.
In addition, the CSIC has signed annual collaboration agreements with the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – France) for the exploitation under CRG (Collaborating Research Group) of the D1B instrument of the ILL.