The ESS Council convened for a digital meeting last week with 25 delegates representing the 13 member states in attendance. This was the 25th meeting of its kind and on the table for discussion, was the progress achieved so far and challenges being faced.
During the meeting, Acting ESS Director General, Kevin Jones, updated the ESS Council on the overall ESS status, covering construction progress, challenges, and the impact of COVID-19, followed by reports from the In-Kind Review Committee and the Administration & Finance Committee.
Challenging times
Following dialogues at previous Council meetings, ESS has continued to refine an action plan for how to mitigate delays and cost increases, primarily driven by the pandemic and technical challenges. The ESS Council tasked ESS Management to develop a new project baseline based on delivering previously agreed to capabilities of 2MW of proton beam power and 15 installed instruments as soon as possible at the lowest reasonable cost, with sufficient cost and schedule contingency.
This work is ongoing and is estimated to be concluded during winter with start of implementation immediately thereafter.
During the meeting, the ESS 2020 Activity Report was approved and is now available on the ESS website.