Target
Installation has started for 20-tonne concrete shielding doors for all three levels separating the triangular rooms in the Monolith building to the Utility building. Rails are grouted and bolted to the concrete floor, after which the heavy door pieces will be lowered via the hatches (the openings between high bay and levels underneath) and positioned on each floor.
UK in-kind partner, UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and their contractor Aquila Nuclear (AQN) have started preparations for the installation of a shaft cutting station in the process cell of the Active Cell Facility.
UKAEA and contractors have also started the installation of a waste transfer system, which will be located in the narrow corridor in the lower Transport Hall area, adjacent to the Active Cell’s maintenance cell. Rails are to be installed, welded and aligned, and then a trolley will be loaded onto the rails. This will enable cask-packed activated waste to leave the facility for safe storage elsewhere.
Accelerator
In the Normal Conducting Linac preparations are underway to start Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) conditioning in early June. The RFQ is being connected to the waveguide distribution system and RFQ klystron on the gallery side.
The first Drift Tube Linac tank (DTL1) is scheduled for installation in the tunnel in August, before beam commissioning activities – sending beam through the first few accelerating structures – start.
Experimental Halls 1 & 2
Floor treatment of the two short instrument halls is ongoing, with Experimental Hall 2 substantially completed and Experimental Hall 1 ongoing with touch up works followed by dust binding.
Mounting of concrete blocks is in progress for the north sector bunker wall inside Experimental Hall 2. Once the north sector walls are completed towards the end of June, the team will move over to Experimental Hall 1 and complete the last sector walls for the east bunker.
The first two instruments to start their construction in the short instrument halls will be LoKI (in Experimental Hall 2) and ODIN (in Experimental Hall 1). Works are scheduled to start this summer, through an early access agreement with ESS construction partner, Skanska.
Experimental Hall 3
Construction of the NMX control hutch next to the cave is ongoing.
Tests and alignment of the BIFROST spectrometer vessel tank have been performed, and installation of a local crane is coming up.
Laboratories
Internal finishes are in progress for the D08 lab, supporting Experimental Hall 1.
The viewing gallery, with a panoramic outlook over Experimental Hall 1, is in the final stages, with window installation following shortly.
ESS has installed fume hoods in the D08 lab with the same to follow in the D04 lab, supporting Experimental Hall 2.
