Target
Interior works are ongoing in the two Lab Buildings, to be handed over to ESS in December. This includes mainly Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing (MEP) works (Heating, Ventillation & Air Conditiioning [HVAC], & electrical), suspended ceilings, painting and installation of handrails in the staircases. Experimental Hall 3 and part 1 of the Beamline Gallery were handed over to ESS last week. ESS will host an inauguration ceremony inside Experimental Hall 3 next month, with guests from the various in-kind partners building the future instruments. Preparations for this is currently ongoing.
Completion of the surfaces outside the Experimental Hall Buildings has started. Excavation for drainage pipes on the east side of Hall 3 is underway. The soil around the area will be subject to packing and leveling, before being finished off with asphalt, bike stands, park benches, lighting foundations and tree pits - creating a nice, welcoming space for our future scientists! By November, more than 3 700 m2 of asphalt will be in place here.
The bunker in Test Stand 2 will soon be equipped with the cryomodule that has been prepared outside of the bunker. The cryomodule will in the future cool the helium down to an amazing 2K (-271°C).
Accelerator
A girder (support structure) for the next accelerator incoming component, the RFQ (Radio Frequency Quadrupole), arrived on site on last week and the tunnel is now ready for the big RFQ delivery. This is another major in- kind contribution to ESS, this time from CEA in France.
The corridor between the Linac/'Accelerator to Target' and the 'Drift to Target'/Target will require a lot of shielding. More shielding blocks have been lowered, and this will be put in place this autumn in the area where protons fly by at almost speed of light, before hitting the Target.
Excavation and blinding is completed on both sides for the Dog leg cover, in order for concrete works to commence. The Dog Leg cover is a square concrete structure that is built on top of the very last part of the Accelerator tunnel, and will be constructed over the next three months. As works progress with the Dog Leg cover, the walkway across the tunnel base will move closer to the Gallery gable wall. This is to facilitate the installation of a retaining wall on both sides, and refill on top of the Dog Leg tunnel. The retaining wall on the north side will be eight metres high, 25 metres long, and will be cast in-situ. On the south side, it will be constructed with prefab T-shaped concrete elements to a height of four metres.
