Accelerator
Normal Conducting Linac
Conditioning of the first drift tube linac has started. This involves sending radio-frequency power to the cavity via the waveguides, at increasing power levels. Read more: Conditioning of the first Drift Tube Linac starts.
The Accelerator operations team is in the process of moving in to the new, permanent Main Control Room, located in the Target Entrance building.
Spoke Linac
Welding of header units – the pipes connecting the spoke valve boxes – is ongoing, with completion expected soon. Pressure and leak tests will follow.
Target
Target wheel
The coating of the target wheel is completed and the wheel has returned from the factory in Malmö to ESS in Lund.
The shaft and drive unit are in the ESS Technical Workshops for tests to be performed.
Target shielding
Installation of shielding wedges in-between the port tubes surrounding the Monolith vessel has started. In total, 109 wedges will be filling up the gap between port tubes. A top plate will be placed on top. On here, the outer shielding blocks will then be stacked.
Proton beam drift room pipe
The first part of the proton beam drift room pipe, connecting the Accelerator to the Target, was installed and connected to a clamp within the Monolith confinement. Leak tests are following.
Active Cells
Electrical installations for the internal crane continue, with cables pulled in the troughs on the corbels of the maintenance cell. The 25-tonnes grapple crane to be installed is currently subject to Factory Acceptance test (FAT) with the in-kind partner in UK.
A glove box in the Component Transfer Hatch inside the process cell was successfully installed.
Experimental Halls
ODIN and DREAM
External and internal finishes of the ODIN control cabin is under way. Experimental cave construction will follow from April, starting with the casting of a base slab.
For DREAM, works are ongoing for both the experimental cave and the control cabin.
