The last two weeks on the construction site have seen major progress on the Target Station (D02). On April 24 a massive 16-hour concrete pour, involving 80 site workers and 80 truckloads of concrete was successfully completed for the waste pit walls of the Active Cells Handling Facility.
These walls include 60 tonnes of formwork latticed into a density of more than 550 kilograms per cubic metre. A total of 90 cubic metres of heavy concrete and 130 cubic metres of normal concrete were placed using 88 vibration rods pre-installed in the walls and another 42 formwork vibrators. Three quarters of a kilometre of cooling pipes were also needed for the job. An additional 200 cubic metres of heavy concrete will be placed this week to form the vault for these pits.
Preparations for the bottom slab of the Target Station’s Accelerator-to-Target (A2T) area were completed as well, allowing for the first casting to be scheduled for this week. Work on the large circular walls of the Monolith progressed to the east side, with the first castings scheduled for next week.
Work on the superstructures for the long-range instruments hall (E01), labs (E03, E04) and guide hall (E02) is also progressing rapidly, with installation of the ventilation and sprinkler systems moving ahead in the instruments hall. Construction of the beamline wall interface between the D03 instrument hall near the Target Station and the E02 guide hall has begun. The wall will be 4.7 metres high, nine tenths of a metre thick, and will include box-outs for the facility’s neutron beam guides.
