Accelerator
Beam commissioning from Ion source to MEBT
Beam commissioning activities are planned to start this month. This entails producing protons in the Ion Source and sending beams of protons up to the faraday cup in the Medium Energy Beam Transport (MEBT) section.
RF testing
With a new circulator installed, site acceptance tests of the DTL1 RF system can be concluded. The modulator has been re-energised.
The RF system for DTL3 is also subject to local high power tests with the modulator.
Four out of 12 medium beta modulators are now in place in the Klystron Gallery. A fifth modulator is installed in test stand 3, for power tests with a local dump to begin shortly.
Cryomodules
The second serial-produced medium beta cryomodule to be tested in test stand 2, has been connected inside the bunker. Another cryomodule arrived from CEA in France, and is currently stored in a loading hall.
Target
Target roof
Installation of cantilever roof cladding progresses on the front end of the Target building, above the D06 substation building and Accelerator to Target (A2T).
Target facades
The mounting of façade panels for the Target buildings are in the final stages as steel profiles are installed in corners and joints. Completion is expected before the end of October.
Monolith
Next week, a team from in-kind partner ESS Bilbao will arrive on site to start the preparations for the welding works of the 39 port tubes to the Monolith vessel. Two port tubes have already been lowered to the base slab surrounding the Monolith, and another 16 are currently stored on the high bay, with the rest to be delivered shortly.
Target Entrance
All works are completed in the Target Entrance building, with final touch-ups and cleaning to prepare for sectional handover inspections now in progress.
Experimental Halls and Labs
Experimental Halls 1 & 2
All steel bridge walkways along the walls of the two short instrument halls are in place, with painting and handrails completed.
In the future, as the halls are filled with equipment, access to instrument caves will be gained via stairs and walkways from the steel bridges.
Neutron shielding bunker
Steel reinforcement and hardening with epoxy is ongoing for the crane beams for the bunker crane on both sides of the Target Monolith.
Bunker roof elements will be delivered to site in the next weeks. Installation to the bunker structure is expected to start in December, once the bunker cranes are operational.
LoKI
Preparations are now under way to start construction of LoKI, the instrument built by STFC as part of the UK in-kind contribution.
The floor inside Experimental Hall 2 has been marked for concrete plinths and base plates to be positioned. The 12,5-metre-long detector vessel, which will be placed inside a shielding cave, has already been delivered to ESS.
Labs D04 and D08
Internal finishes to the two lab buildings supporting Experimental Halls 1 & 2 are completed, with sectional handover inspections coming up later this month.
Final cleaning, touch-up works and closing of detected issues are in progress.
Externally, facades, curtain walls and installation of lightning protection to roof level is complete.
The lab on the bottom floor is ready for ESS to start in-ceiling installations for the radioactive materials (RML) laboratory.
Skanska construction project nearing completion
The last big asphalt pour for the project is in progress, with the area outside the Accelerator front end building, Gallery Southern Road and remaining parts of Circular Road getting equipped with asphalt.
All landscaping works are completed, with only tree planting remaining.
Inside the remaining buildings subject to handover to ESS in December this year, site acceptance tests of installed systems, quality inspections and final touch-ups are ongoing.
