Last week on the construction site, erection of the superstructure for the large, fan-shaped long-range instruments Guide Hall (E02) got underway. In the Target Station area (D02), two more heavy concrete walls were cast for the Active Cells Handling Area. The first fir tree saplings have been planted on the north side of Circular Road, with plenty more to come. And eight 500 kW diesel generators in the facility’s distribution substation (H06) were successfully tested at a cumulative 2.4 MW load. The generators provide power for a safe shut-down of all systems in the event of a general power failure.
Machine installation preparations in the Accelerator Tunnel (G01) are ramping up: the Phase Reference Line continues its steady progress; the dividing line between the machine and the transport corridor has been marked; one-tonne mobile cranes for placing equipment in the tunnel have undergone calibrations, sound-dampening and other improvements; dozens more electronics racks are being lined up in the klystron gallery; and Front End Building mechanical, electrical and plumbing works are in full swing in advance of the ion source and low-energy beam transport (LEBT) installations set to begin in January.
And somewhere in a warm climate far, far away, Italy’s INFN-Catania is crating up the completed components for the ESS ion source and LEBT line. These will be loaded on a truck this evening and transported to ESS over the next week. The in-kind delivery’s progress can be followed on Twitter and Facebook at #IonSourceAdventure.
