ESS Campus project in final stages
As the ESS Campus project is nearing completion, finalising of the landscape and concrete walkways is now in focus. The Campus Entrance Building is subject to final touches of the reception area, with the speed gates and radiation monitor portals already fully installed. Inside the office building, kitchen installations are almost complete and the audio-video installation in the auditorium is well under way. Floors and windows are being cleaned, and sound absorbents put on the walls. The workshop and labs are fully installed, and the various ESS stakeholders will start moving in with their equipment early next year.
Accelerator highlights
A small team from Italian in-kind partner INFN are now back on site, performing tuning and stabilization tests of Drift Tube Linac tank 1. First installation in the tunnel is expected in January 2021. Low power tests with cavities cooled at a temperature of 2K has been successfully completed for the cryomodule prototype inside Test Stand 2. Testing of interlocks is currently ongoing, with the goal of having the first test with high power on this cryomodule before the end of the year. Energisation of the RFQ radio-frequency power system is ongoing. Infrastructure installations continue.
The ESS 'sombrero' and facades
Cantilever roof installation is ongoing at the back of the Target building, which includes the corner where Transport Hall meets the west gable of Experimental Hall 2 and the protruding roof segment between Experimental Hall 1, the adjacent lab building and D02 Target building. Cladding, which involves the installation of panels of three pre-fixed aluminium lamellas, is ongoing for the south cantilever roof of Experimental Hall 1. At the same time, metal cladding to the facades is ongoing underneath the sombrero-style roofing, with the horizontal bars already fitted for the front of Experimental Hall 1.
Neutron shielding bunker
Deliveries of bunker blocks for the neutron shielding bunker in Experimental Hall 2 has resumed this week, with 3-4 truckloads arriving every day. The west bunker wall is scheduled for completion before the end of this year. The west sector contains 9 beamlines: W1-8 is for the instruments in Experimental Hall 3 and W9 is for the Test Beam Line.
Hatches – heavy lids
All 36 hatches for covering the openings from Target high bay down to the Monolith, Utility, Technical Galleries and Active Cell areas beneath have now been lifted up and fitted.
The Monolith nine-piece concrete cake weighing a total of 510 tonnes has returned to its storage space in a corner of the ESS staff parking.
The high bay overhead crane, installed earlier this autumn, was used in the lifting operation, with lids weighing between 12 and 88 tonnes.
Cranes in Experimental Hall 1
The two parts of the beam for the overhead crane for Experimental Hall 1 has arrived on site and will be fitted during December. It spans 50,5 metres and will cover the entire hall.
Welding of the crane consoles for the bunker crane continues inside the protective tent structure.
