Target
As the Monolith high bay vault is now completed, the supporting steel structure has been removed, to reveal a full view of the spectacular round shape and robust construction. ESS completed the first stage of Monolith ground shielding in June, and shielding plate installations, with more to follow this autumn.
The base slab for Experimental Hall 1 is completed, and only three slabs remain to be cast in Experimental Hall 2, before this too has been fully equipped with in-situ cast concrete: the bunker slab was recently finalised.
Installation of sandwich panels for the substation building has been completed, with roof works and interior works now ongoing.
Works continue on partition and façade walls in Accelerator to Target, and 4x6 m filigree concrete slabs will be added on the high bay level. This will be followed by more reinforcement and a finishing in-situ cast top slab.
The fan-shaped instrument hall for long-pulse instruments is structurally completed, and the building, together with half the Beamline Gallery (part 1) and a Substation Building, is subject to sectional handover to ESS this week.
ESS, together with various in-kind partners, will then be able to start building instrument caves and support structures for the neutron guides.
Severfield, Skanska’s construction partner from the UK, are now starting superstructure erection in several additional areas:
1 August: start steel columns for the laboratory building to Experimental Hall 2.
7 August: start steel columns on the Monolith high bay. These columns will be 18 metres tall and will certainly create an impressive skyline!
Accelerator
Stub installation: More than 2 000 waveguide sections have been installed in the Gallery, inside the stubs and along the walls of the Accelerator tunnel. With 3 000 sections yet to be installed, this makes the installation 40% complete.
Cryogenic Distribution System: 21 valve boxes have so far been delivered, positioned and installed in the Linac. Welding of interconnections is ongoing. During the Autumn, installation of a transfer line for helium, cooled down in the largest cold box in the Coldbox Hall in the Klystron Gallery, will commence. Early next year the first cryomodule is due to be connected in the tunnel.
Later in August the RFQ (Radio Frequency Quadrupole), the next big component for the Linac, will arrive on site for installation to commence. The RFQ will be positioned between the LEBT (Low Energy Beam Transport) and the MEBT (Medium Energy Beam Transport). The LEBT has been partially dismantled to facilitate the connection and installation. Preparations are ongoing with pipe support over the area, with marking and drilling already completed.
The RFQ is a 4.6m long structure, composed of four segments, with the purpose of accelerating and shaping/bunching the proton beam. The RFQ is an in-kind delivery from CEA/France.
Around 30% of the ESS project is being realised through in-kind contributions.
General
Central Utility Building: The inner walls have been installed, paving the way for installations work to start.
Logistics Centre: ESS gained access in June, and have already installed shelves, as well as interior barriers. The building can now be used for storage purposes. Official handover to ESS is due this week, after which all shipping to and from the ESS project will go via the Logistics Centre.
Campus: Superstructure erection for the ESS Campus project has been ongoing throughout the summer, with precast concrete walls now being erected. Completion of the three buildings in the scope – the office building, a Workshop & Labs building, and an Entrance Building – is planned for early 2021. ESS staff are due to move in during the first quarter of 2021.
