Presented at the 3rd European Conference on Neutron Scattering - ECNS - Montpellier, 3 September 2003.
Peter Tindemans, former chairman ESS Council.

What happened since Bonn, May 2002?
No fading perspective! Continuity……… (Project Schedule)
…….Indeed, the future starts now!

What happened since Bonn, May 2002?

15-17 May 2002	The ESS project proposal was presented at the European Source of Science conference in Bonn, in the former House of Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany Bonn: project proposal ready; on to political game.		Link to the European Source of Science Conference (Section Documentation/ Reports/ ESS Reports & more)
July 2002	Setback in Germany by WR (Wissenschaftsrat) assessment: unfounded doubts about neutrons.		Press release: ESS assessment by the German science council. (PDF, 488KB)
July 2002	ESFRI (created in April '02) established Neutron WG under J.Kjems to analyse 3 options vs. baseline (incl. ISIS-II and ILL Millennium) ESS: 5MW SP 5MW LP Staged: first 5 MW LP 1 MW SP (ISIS upgrade or AUSTRON)		The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, July 2002 (PDF, 7KB ) Press Release April 2002 (PDF, 14KB) ESFRI Members (PDF, 24KB) Link to ESFRI Home page /ESFRI
October 2002	CEA (Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, France) dropped out		Link to ESS News Archive - see 26 Oct 2002
19 November 2002	WR ready to re-assess; agreement on procedure (Dec.'02)		Press release: WR opens the door for a re-assessment of ESS. ( PDF, 14KB )
16 January 2003	ESFRI met to discuss the WG-report. ESFRI baseline: New facility only in long term.		Link to The ESFRI conclusions. Section "About Neutrons/Strategy"
January - June 2003	‘Tug-of-war’ in Germany and in UK: was there an assessment, was there a decision? Dust settled: German minister: no funding, no German site for time being UK minister: committed to review options in time to bid eventually mid 2005 for funds (‘SR 06’), and consult with other countries. Scandinavia: ready to go on, but not yet.		Link to ESS News Archive 4 July 2003 - Media Release from John Grogan MP - Member of Parliament for Selby. UK strategy for neutron scattering facilities on 8 April 2003 (PDF, 90KB)
April 2003	we mourned loss of PD Jean-Louis Laclare.		In memory of Jean-Louis Laclare - Newsletter May 2003 (PDF, 403)
22 January and 2 July 2003	Council decisions and achievements MoU Objective 1: prepare and present project proposal --> done; Bonn May 2002 MoU Objective 2: prepare baseline engineering design by end 2003. --> Council: discontinue, fully document present status. Available end 2003. MoU Objective 3: try and get political decision end 2003/early 2004 --> Will not be achieved. Hence: By 1 Sept. 2003: disband Central Project Team, repeal MoU, abolish Council and various other bodies and functions, discontinue discussions about sites. UNTIL: movement on political frontier, for which we will have to work, but in a different setting.		Link to ESS News archive January 2003 "ESS Council makes last design choices and concentrates on advancing a decision." Link to The Council of ESS met on 2 July 2003 in Leipzig for what was to be its last meeting. (ESS status section) Link to Achievements and status as of summer 2003 (ESS project Status Section)

No fading perspective! Continuity………

September 2003
Document, store, make accessible science case and technical work; central forum: Volume III Update; data at FZJ and RAL;
ESS information available here in this section of this European portal for neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy.

‘Caretakers’ appointed by Council: Peter Tindemans, Kurt Clausen

Key elements for building up again for the longer term:
- ESS is foundation for any possible new source.
- Be prepared for evaluations and reviews, and working with SNS and J-PARC to broaden science case
- Need time perspective shared with funding agencies and governments.

Three phases with clearly identified key activities: the first phase as explained below, the second (Picking up baseline engineering and construction planning) to start at T0, the third (Construction) at T0 + 2, leading to first neutrons at T0 + 9.
See Project Schedule - September 2003 Section ESS/The Facility/Project Schedule


…….Indeed, the future starts now!

The first phase for the new facility is about: :
Overall strategy
Science case
Scoping

Where strategy implies:
- Co-operation between existing facilities to maximise utilisation and user service.
- Road Map.
- Integration of planning new facility in Road Map.
- ISNS Instrument co-operation.

Needed:
Absolute time scale
New organisation


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