Target vessel installed
The vacuum vessel, which arrived to site from Spanish in-kind partner ESS Bilbao late October, is now in place inside the Monolith enclosure. First, the 30 tonne lower vessel was positioned and aligned, followed by the approx. 10 tonne medium vessel, and a lid. It is inside the vessel that the Target Monolith systems, including the rotating tungsten wheel, will be installed.
The neutron shielding bunker is under construction
Last week, the first out of 55 truckloads of shielding blocks for the neutron shielding bunker arrived on site. The purpose of the bunker is to provide shielding for the first few metres of each instrument beamline. It surrounds the Target Monolith in four sectors. As the west sector has already been equipped with the steel frame, mounting of the precast concrete shielding blocks could start right away. The blocks vary in size and shape – but they’re all ESS blue!
Finishing the façades
Metal cladding is ongoing in various parts of the Target and Experimental Hall buildings. Cladding is completed for the front of the A2T building and at the back of Target Transport Hall, and ongoing for the south high bay wall and the south wall of Experimental Hall 1. This is the last façade element, resulting in a uniform shiny, metal finish to our Target Station and Science buildings.
Shortly, cladding of the cantilever roof structure will start. Cladding consists of decorative aluminium lamellas and steel brackets, which will be fixed to the steel construction already in place ('the sombrero'). The lamellas are fixed together forming elements, or panels. In total, for the entire round roof structure, there will be 2, 592 elements, consisting if three lamellae each. This gives the curved roof its other nickname – 'the bird’s nest'.
