ROBL, the Rossendorf Beamline, is a dedicated experimental station operated by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble — a specialised radiochemistry beamline rather than a facility in its own right.
HZDR has run ROBL at the ESRF since 1998. It is one of only a handful of facilities in Europe that offers an alpha-laboratory environment for studying radionuclides with synchrotron X-rays, allowing radioactive samples — solids, liquids or wet pastes — with an activity of up to 185 MBq to be measured safely. The beamline provides two experimental stations for synchrotron spectroscopy and diffraction, drawing on the ESRF’s high-energy storage ring as its X-ray source.
At a glanceBeamline profile
- Location
- Grenoble, France (at the ESRF)
- Operator
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)
- Type
- Radiochemistry beamline at a third-generation synchrotron
- X-ray energy
- 5–35 keV
- Stations
- Two: synchrotron spectroscopy and diffraction
- Operating since
- 1998
- Website
- hzdr.de/robl
The scienceWhat researchers do here
ROBL specialises in the fundamental chemistry of the f-elements — the actinides and lanthanides — and in questions tied to the safe disposal of radioactive waste and to environmental chemistry more broadly. Using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and diffraction, researchers determine how radionuclides bind, dissolve, migrate and form solid phases under conditions relevant to nuclear-waste storage and contaminated environments. The dedicated alpha-laboratory makes it possible to handle and characterise these otherwise difficult samples at a synchrotron beamline.
A specialist station, not a whole facility: ROBL brings HZDR’s radiochemistry expertise to the powerful X-rays of the ESRF in Grenoble.
Access for researchers
Beam time is shared, with the larger share managed by HZDR and the remainder allocated through the ESRF. HZDR applications follow a formal procedure submitted well ahead of the experiment, while ESRF beam time is available through that facility’s twice-yearly proposal rounds.