European Spallation Source


The European Spallation Source ERIC is a multi-disciplinary research facility based on what will be the world's most powerful pulsed neutron source. It is currently under construction in Lund, Sweden. The ESS Data Management and Software Centre will be located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The 13 European member countries act as partners in the construction and operation of ESS. ESS will start the scientific user programme in 2023, and the construction phase will be complete by 2025. ESS is the world's most powerful next-generation neutron source, and will enable scientists to see and understand basic atomic structures and forces at length and time scales unachievable at other neutron sources.
ESS became a , or ERIC, on 1 October 2015. The European Spallation Source ERIC is "a joint European organisation committed to constructing and operating the world's leading facility for research using neutrons."
ESS will use spallation, a process in which fragments of material are ejected from a body due to impact or stress. The future facility is composed of a linear accelerator in which protons are accelerated and collide with a rotating, helium-cooled tungsten target. By this process, intense pulses of neutrons are emitted and led through beamlines to experimental stations, where research is done on different materials. This will help discover and develop new materials with applications in manufacturing, pharmaceutical drugs, aerospace, engines, plastics, energy, telecommunications, transportation, information technology and biotechnology. According to its designers, ESS will provide neutron beams up to 30 times brighter than any current neutron source. ESS is also designed to be carbon-neutral and is expected to reduce CO2 emissions in the region.
Information on the scientific instruments selected to be built at ESS can be found .

History

When the ISIS neutron source was built in England in 1985, its radical success in producing indirect images of molecular structures eventually raised the possibility of a far more powerful spallation source. By 1993, the European Neutron Scattering Association began to advocate what would be the most ambitious and broad-based spallation source in the world, ESS.
Neutron science soon became a critical tool in the development of industrial and consumer products worldwide. So much so that the Organization for Economic Development, declared in 1999 that a new generation of high-intensity neutron sources should be built, one each in North America, Asia and Europe. Europe's challenge was its diverse collection of national governments, and an active research community numbering in the thousands. In 2001, a European roadmap for developing accelerator driven systems for nuclear waste incineration estimated that the ESS could have the beam ready for users in 2010. A European international task force gathered in Bonn in 2002 to review the findings and a positive consensus emerged to build ESS. The stakeholders group met a year later to review the task force's progress, and in 2003 a new design concept was adopted that set the course for beginning operations by 2019.
Over the next five years a competitive and yet collaborative site selection process played out and Lund, Sweden was chosen as the preferred site; the definitive selection of Lund was announced in Brussels on 28 May 2009. On 1 July 2010, the staff and operations of ESS Scandinavia were transferred from Lund University to 'European Spallation Source ESS AB', a limited liability company set up to design, construct and operate the European Spallation Source in Lund. The company's headquarters are situated in central Lund.
ESS became a European Research Infrastructure Consortium, or ERIC, on 1 October 2015. The Founding Members of the European Spallation Source ERIC are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
As of 2013 the estimated cost of the facility will be about €1.843 bn. Host nations Sweden and Denmark plan to give about half of the sum. However the negotiations about the exact contributions from every partner are still in progress. From 2010 to 30 September 2015, ESS was operated as a Swedish aktiebolag, or AB.

Site selection

Originally, three possible ESS sites were under consideration: Bilbao, Debrecen and Lund.
On 28 May 2009, seven countries indicated support for placing ESS in Sweden. Furthermore, Switzerland and Italy indicated that they would support the site in majority. On 6 June 2009, Spain withdrew the Bilbao candidacy and signed a collaboration agreement with Sweden, supporting Lund as the main site, but with key component development work being performed in Bilbao. This effectively settled the location of the ESS; detailed economical negotiations between the participating countries are now taking place. On 18 December 2009, Hungary also chose to tentatively support ESS in Lund, thus withdrawing the candidacy of Debrecen.
The construction of the facility began in early 2014, with a groundbreaking event held in September of that year. The user programme will start in 2023, and it is planned to be fully operational by 2025. ESS provides and on its website.

The spallation target and its environmental impact

ESS has 15 instruments in its construction budget. They are
Diffraction:
Spectroscopy:
Large-scale structures:
Engineering and Imaging: