Speaker
Description
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) demands a liquid scintillator (LS) of unprecedented quality, with exceptionally stringent requirements for both optical transparency and radiopurity. To meet these specifications, a multi-stage, industrial-scale mixing and purification process was developed and executed to produce the requisite 20,000 tons of LS. This process integrates the precise dosing of raw chemical components with in-line purification stages, including acid/water washing and filtration, all governed by a rigorous quality control framework. Key parameters such as optical attenuation and absorption spectrum, radioactive contaminant levels were continuously monitored using spectroscopic and mass spectrometry techniques. The production campaign was successfully completed, with the final liquid scintillator meeting the demanding specifications for light yield, transparency, and purity, thereby enabling the JUNO experiment to pursue its primary physics goals. The campaign's most significant challenge arose from the unexpected yellowing of aged PPO, which introduced unacceptable optical absorption in the 380-450 nm wavelength region, thereby degrading the LS's attenuation length. This crisis was resolved through the rapid development and implementation of a real-time spectroscopic quality control method, enabling the immediate identification and rejection of non-compliant batches.
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