MUR International Project ESS (European Spallation Source)

The European Spallation Source (ESS), included in the ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Roadmap since 2006, will be the most intense neutron source worldwide. It is a pan-European infrastructure aimed at hosting a community of about 5000 scientists. The low energy neutron beams that will be made available will allow new experimental opportunities for real time, in situ, in vivo measurements, including measurements of dynamic events at the nanometric scale. From the technical point of view, the project is based on the production of neutrons by the spallation reaction of protons on a rotating tungsten target. The proton pulse on the target will be characterized by an energy of 2.0 GeV, a duration of 2.86 ms and a frequency of 14 Hz (current 62.5 mA, total power on the target 5MW, peak power 125 MW). The European Spallation Source is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) from October 1 2015. The Founding Members of European Spallation Source ERIC are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The research infrastructure is under construction in Lund (Sweden). The total construction costs (2013) are 1843 million €. More than 35 % of these costs will be provided as in-kind contributions from the network of laboratories/institutions involved. The total Italian planned commitment is about 6 % of the total construction costs. The start of the user program is planned in 2026, followed by the completion of the construction phase in 2027 and 40 years of operation.

Other Italian public research institutions involved

The Italian participation in the construction of ESS includes the contribution by three institutions: INFN, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste and CNR, as agreed within an ad hoc Memorandum of Understanding with the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.

Other organizations and stakeholders involved

Italy and other 12 European countries are founding members of European Spallation Source ERIC.

Strategic objectives

• Participation in the realization of a facility for the fine analysis of matter based on high flux neutron spectroscopy.
• Development of the competitiveness of the Italian industrial system in the fields of energy, scientific instrumentation and technical quality control.
• Strengthening of the international scientific user community that will exploit the innovative European Spallation Source facility, also through the hands on training of young scientists and technicians.
• Implementation and formalization of the Italian involvement as in-kind contribution to the design and construction.
• Design, construction and validation of the in-kind contributions. Elettra contributes in-kind  to ESS with the RF power stations for the spoke cavity linac,the support to the installation of the RF power stations,  the magnets for the linac warm units  and the beam transport lines, the power converters for the magnets and the wire scanners’ acquisition system.