Vital ESS modules begin to ship

Units in the workshop at Daresbury Laboratory
(Credit: STFC)

Daresbury Laboratory has recently shipped the first beam transport module to the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden – one of 74 modules which will be assembled and tested at the site over the next two years.

When complete, the ESS will be home to the most powerful linear proton accelerator in the world. As the name suggests, the beam transport modules will transport a proton beam which will travel at 90% the speed of light in order to create particles called neutrons. Along with a suite of new instrumentation, the beams will allow smaller and more complex samples to be studied through neutron investigation than previously possible.

The project is possible due to an international partnership, and the beam transport modules are one of several work packages being delivered to ESS by STFC as part of the UK’s in-kind contribution.

The design, construction and testing of the modules has all taken place at Daresbury Laboratory, with the large quadrupole magnets being manufactured by Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy, and further elements being manufactured on site and by other UK specialist companies.

ESS and STFC staff celebrating the successful arrival of the first unit at Lund in Sweden
(Credit: STFC)

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