ESS Submits New Application to Swedish Radiation Safety Authority SSM
LUND— Today the European Spallation Source ERIC (ESS) submitted an application to the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten, SSM) for installing equipment which can generate ionising radiation in the research facility now under construction in Lund. This is the second application in the licensing process, which consists of four stages in total before the material research facility can go into operations.
The application submitted to SSM today is for a license to install equipment in the accelerator tunnel and other parts of the facility which can generate ionising radiation. ESS also applies for permission to test drive the first part of the accelerator, some 50 metres.
The materials research facility ESS is based on the world's most powerful neutron source, and once the research programme begins, samples will be examined on atomic and molecular level using neutrons. When producing the neutrons, ionising radiation and radioactive substances are generated in parts of the research facility. This means that ESS must follow the Radiation Protection Act in order to protect staff and neighbourhood. The regulatory authority SSM is to ensure that ESS adheres to the rigorous safety requirements.
"ESS takes safety very seriously and we will follow SSM's instructions to the letter," said Peter Jacobsson, ESS Head of Environment, Safety, Health and Quality. "This application is far more extensive than the first and provides SSM with a good basis to make a decision."
The application includes detailed descriptions of the facility's construction and of how SSM's requirements are to be met. ESS also presents revised calculations regarding the total amount of radioactive waste the facility will produce during the entire operations period including the decommissioning phase, which will be significantly lower than previously indicated.
SSM will now revise the ESS application and is expected to reach a decision before the summer of 2017.
"The ESS project is under a tight time schedule, and to maintain our planned completion goals it's important that we've delivered such a thorough application to SSM", said John Haines, ESS Associate Director of Environment, Safety, Health & Quality. "We have a good dialogue with SSM, which is essential for a licensing process consisting of several steps like this one, where many different safety aspects must be taken into account."
In July 2014 ESS received the first licence from SSM, to build the research facility in Lund. The construction works were then initated at the ESS construction site, and are expected to be completed in 2019. The entire licensing process for ESS consists of four stages, where the next two refers to test operations and full operations of the facility.
The ESS Accelerator team will get full access to the accelerator tunnel in 2017. ESS plan to produce the first neutrons in 2019 and be fully operational by 2025.
For more information:
Julia Öberg, ESS Press Officer, +46 46 888 33 11 / +46 721 79 23 11 julia.oberg@esss.se
The European Spallation Source is a Partnership of European Nations committed to the goal of collectively building and operating the world's leading facility for research using neutrons by the end of the decade.
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