Beiträge an das Projekt European Spallation Source ESS/ERIC

• Forschungsstelle: SBFI
• Projektnummer: P2021-ESS-PSI

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

Europa Sweden Lund Spallation Source Neutrons

Forschungsprogramme (Englisch)

Neutrons are a good instrument for probing material – everything from molecules and medicines to plastics and proteins.
The extent as to how detailed studies can be is directly dependent on how many neutrons a neutron source can produce.

Today, there are a large number of research facilities based on neutron sources – above all in Europe. Most are based on small nuclear reactors, a technique that has long since reached its maximum capacity and cannot be developed further.

As a result, neutron researchers have developed the third generation of neutron sources based on the spallation technique. The difference between the current and future neutron sources will be like the difference between looking at an object in the glow of a candle and doing it under flash lighting.

FIelds of research of ESS:
Energy, Climate, Health, Chemistry, New Materials, Environment, Archeology, Engineering, Computer Simulation

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

European Spallation Source is a joint European project, like that of many large-scale research facilities such as CERN in Geneva.

The European countries that are interested in building and operating ESS are forming a coalition and entering into a formal agreement with one of the countries that has offered to be host. Consequently, ESS is not an EU project.

ESS Council is formed in 1993. The organisation consists of 18 major laboratories in 11 European countries

On 28th May 2009 the decision is made to build ESS in Lund in Sweden.
The ESS Steering Committee has its first meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in October with 13 partner countries represented. Among them is Spain, former contender for hosting ESS. The Pre Construction Phase begins.

Website: http://ess-scandinavia.eu/

Partner und Internationale Organisationen (Englisch)

Traditionally, neutron research is a field in which Europe leads other countries and parts of the world. The USA is considered to be the leader in many other fields of research, which is also reflected in the fact that many Nobel Prize winners are American.

Above all, the reason is that today there are a large number of neutron sources in Europe. Many present-day facilities have been in operation for several decades, and by around 2020, several of them will have been taken out of operation.

The new American Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is already in operation and the Japanese J-PARC is planned to be finished in 2008.