European Spallation Source

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European Spallation Source (ESS) is a planned materials research facility for scientific research using the neutron scattering technique. The facility is to be built in Lund, Sweden, construction probably starting in early 2014. No binding decision has yet been made regarding the funding of the facility, its organizational form, or the legal arrangements of the planned collected ownership of the facility by several European countries.[1] The current timetable for the facility is that it expects to open in 2020 and will be fully operational in 2025. At present 17 partner countries are represented in the ESS Steering Committee.

The laboratory is designed around a linear accelerator in which protons are accelerated and collide with a heavy metal target. By this process, intense pulses of neutrons are emitted and led through beamlines to experimental stations, where research on materials is done as part of the scientific front line in energy, telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, information technology, biotechnology, and health.[2]

According to its design, ESS is expected to become 30 times more powerful than facilities in the US and Japan. [3][4]

Since July 1, 2010, the staff and operations of ESS Scandinavia were transferred from Lund University to European Spallation Source ESS AB, a limited liability company set up to design, construct, own and operate the European Spallation Source in Lund. The company's headquarters are situated in central Lund, Sweden.[5]

Site selection

Originally, three possible ESS sites were under serious consideration: Bilbao (Spain), Debrecen (Hungary) and Lund (Sweden).

On May 28, 2009, 7 countries indicated support for placing ESS in Sweden. Furthermore, Switzerland and Italy indicated that they would support the site in majority.[6]

On June 6, 2009, Spain withdrew the Bilbao candidacy and signed a collaboration agreement with Sweden, supporting Lund as the main site, but with key component development work being performed in Bilbao. This effectively settled the location of the ESS; detailed economical negotiations between the participating countries are now taking place, making way for a formal decision in the short term.[7]

On December 18, 2009, Hungary also chose to tentatively support ESS in Lund, thus withdrawing the candidacy of Debrecen.[8][9]

ESS Scandinavia will be hosted jointly by Sweden and Denmark, with the source itself placed in Lund, Sweden and a data management facility in the Copenhagen area. Among special Danish competences is simulation of neutron scattering, since DTU Physics in Lyngby is the home of the McStas software collaboration (formerly Risø DTU), also comprising the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France and Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland

The Spallation Target and its Environmental Impact

  • The ESS source will be built around a solid tungsten target, cooled by helium gas.[10][11]
  • Radioactive substances will be generated by the spallation process, but the solid target makes the handling of these materials much easier and safer than if a liquid target had been used.
  • 40-50 MW of electrical power will be needed when the beam is in use, but most of the energy will be produced via renewable energy sources.
  • ESS, E.on and Lunds Energi are collaborating in a project aiming to get the facility to be the world's first completely sustainable large-scale research centre through investment in windpower.[12] The ESS project is expected to include an extension of e.g. the Nysted Wind Farm
  • Radioactive storage and transports will be required, but the need is much less than that of a nuclear reactor.

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Hallonsten, O. 2012. Introduction: In pursuit of a Promise. In O. Hallonsten (ed.) In pursuit of a Promise: Perspectives on the political process to establish the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden (pp 11-19). Lund: Arkiv Academic Press, 2012, p. 12.
  2. ↑ Berggren, K.-F. and A. Matic 2012. Science at the ESS: A brief outline. In O. Hallonsten (ed.) In pursuit of a Promise: Perspectives on the political process to establish the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden (pp 31-47). Lund: Arkiv Academic Press, 2012.
  3. ↑ https://maiserxx.esss.lu.se/press/documents/ESS_activity_report_2009-10.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.iop.org/publications/iop/2011/file_47455.pdf
  5. ↑ http://www.europeanspallationsource.se/european-spallation-source-0
  6. ↑ "Clear support for ESS in Sweden: A great step for European science" (Press release). May 29, 2009. 
  7. ↑ "Swedish-Spanish agreement on ESS in Lund the beginning of a new collaborative phase" (Press release). June 10, 2009. 
  8. ↑ ESS Debrecen press release
  9. ↑ ESS Scandinavia press release
  10. ↑ Moormann, Rainer; Bongardt, Klaus; Chiriki, Suresh (2009-03-28). "Safety aspects of high power targets for European spallation sources" (PDF). Forschungszentrum Juelich. Retrieved 2009-04-01. 
  11. ↑ Moormann, Rainer; Reiche-Begemann, Sigrid (2009-03-28). "Safety and Licensing of the European Spallation Source (ESS)" (PDF). Forschungszentrum Juelich. Retrieved 2009-04-01. 
  12. ↑
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