European Spallation Source AB today takes over building the research facility ESS
Today 1 July the public limited company European Spallation Source AB takes over the responsibility for constructing the research facility ESS, together with the 16 European Partner Countries.
European Spallation Source AB is a public limited company, set up by the Swedish government in April 2010. ESS AB will plan, construct and operate the ESS, a planned multinational research facility, one of the largest in Europe, that is to be built in southern Sweden.
The transfer of staff and activities from ESS Scandinavia, until 30 June a part of Lund University, is now completed. ESS AB now takes over responsibility for the ESS project.
- The transfer to company status marks a new existence for the ESS project. We warmly thank Lund University for hosting ESS Scandinavia and supporting the ESS project for almost ten years, says Colin Carlile, Director of ESS AB.
The Chairman of ESS AB, Sven Landelius, is the former CEO of the Öresund Bridge Consortium. Today it is exactly ten years since the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö was inaugurated:
- I am very satisfied that ESS AB gets a good start. The Öresund Bridge is a good example of a successful international infrastructure collaboration, and I am convinced that the ESS will be a just as successful project, says Sven Landelius.
At the same time as the company takes over ESS activities, and the word Scandinavia is removed from the name, ESS gets a new graphic profile and a new logotype, the ESS Orb.
- ESS is a European project, building on an international partnership, and we are now entering a new phase. We want to mark this by changing the name and take on a new visual costume, says Colin Carlile.
Today, European Spallation Source AB is fully owned by the Swedish State, but all Partner Countries will be offered to buy shares.
For more information, please contact:
Colin Carlile, ESS AB Director. E-mail colin.carlile@esss.se, Tel. 46-(0)46-222 83 02
Marianne Ekdahl, Communications Officer. E-mail marianne.ekdahl@esss.se, Tel. 46-(0)46-222 83 89
Roger Eriksson, Communications Officer. E-mail roger.eriksson@esss.se, Tel. 46-(0)46-222 67 18
ESS IN SHORT:
The European Spallation Source – the next generation facility for materials research and life science
The European Spallation Source (ESS) will be a multi-disciplinary research laboratory based on the world’s most powerful neutron source. ESS can be likened to a large microscope, where neutrons are used instead of light to study materials – ranging from polymers and pharmaceuticals to membranes and molecules – to gain knowledge about their structure and function. ESS will be up to 100 times better than existing facilities, opening up new possibilities for researchers in for example health, environment, climate, energy, transport sciences and cultural heritage.
ESS is an intergovernmental project resembling CERN in Geneva, and it will be built in Lund in southern Scandinavia. At least sixteen European countries will take part in the construction, financing and operation of the ESS. Sweden and Denmark will co-host the ESS and cover 50 percent of the 1,4 B€ investment costs and 20 percent of the operating costs together with the Nordic and Baltic states.
The European Spallation Source ESS AB is a public limited company, today owned by the Swedish State. ESS AB is planning the future international ESS organisation. Building is expected to start around 2013, the first neutrons to be produced in 2019 and the facility to be fully operational around 2025.
ESS will support a user community of 5000 researchers and will have great strategic importance for the development of the European Research Area. Near by there will be complementary laboratories, such as the synchrotron MAX IV in Lund and XFEL and PETRAIII in Hamburg.