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The ILL instrument IN5 was constructed in the 1970s after a proposed outline from Reinhard Scherm and coworkers in 1967 [1]. Apart from some technical improvements about once a decade–for example on the chopper system and the completion of the detector area in 1988–the basic instrument remained almost unchanged for more than 30 years. In 1996, it was decided to refurbish the primary spectrometer–upstream from the sample–with a super-mirror focusing guide and an optimized counter-rotating disks chopper system. Started in 1998 this project was completed by the end of 2002, and the instrument welcomed its first users in spring 2003. A further step for a full refurbishment of this instrument was started in 2004, with the objective to improve the secondary spectrometer. The upgrade was run in parallel with the instrument user operation.

Two important meetings have highlighted the first half of the year for French neutron users. The first of them, in January, was the strategy workshop TRESSES concerned with the European Spallation Source project, and the second, in May, was the traditional user community meeting “Journees de la Diffusion Neutronique,” composed of the thematic school “Neutrons et Mate riaux” and the scientific session the “Rencontres Rossat-Mignod.”

From May 21–26, 2000, for the ninth time, the French neutron community (SocietC FranGaise de la Neutronique or SFN) held its annual meeting-Journees de la Diffusion Neutronique. This year about 130 participants came to Normandy, at Colleville-sur-Mer, situated right on Omaha Beach, the well-known site for World War I1 battle action.