DATE	SUBJECT	DOWNLOAD
2 July 2003	The Council of ESS met on 2 July 2003 in Leipzig for what was to be its last meeting It was given a presentation of and was impressed by the additional work that has been carried out since the Bonn proposal for ESS to reduce further uncertainties, refine performance and fill in costing and design details. Most of that work is complete now, and all of it will be available electronically and in a printed version by the end of 2003 as “The ESS Project Volume III Update. Technical Report. Status 2003”	Full version Leipzig Council in the ESS-Status project subsection
July 2003	Media Release from John Grogan MP - Member of Parliament for Selby. ( 4-07-03) A delegation from Yorkshire, led by Selby MP John Grogan met with Science Minister Lord Sainsbury earlier this week to discuss the bid from the region to host the European Spallation source (ESS)project at Burn Airfield. ..."Lord Sainsbury told the delegation that the Government was committed to maintaining Britain’s position as a world leader in neutron science". ...."Lord Sainsbury has instigated a review of the way forward for neutron science in this country. This will consider all possibilities including the case for a European Spallation Source project and also the upgrading of existing facilities. This review will not decide on particular sites. The idea would be to finish this review by 2005 so that the Science minister could make bids for funding to the Treasury during the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review due in 2006"	(PDF, 204 KB)
21 May 2003	ICANS MEETING Europe will get a MW pulsed Spallation Source... But When? (21.05.03) Europe will get a MW pulsed Spallation Source... But When? The director of the ESS project Kurt Clausen presented the last developments of the ESS project to the 150 participants from more than 11 countries at the ICANS meeting.Celebrated at Neuss in the Historical Arsenal, the 16th meeting of the "International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources” has been organized by Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and co-sponsored by the Hahn-Meitner-Institut, Berlin, and the ESS Project.The director of the ESS project summarized the ESS technical design and compared it to SNS and J-PARC. Benchmarking the ESS against SNS shows that ESS would outperform any planned neutron source. He stressed the fact that the ESFRI group did not discuss the neutron scenarios at their meeting in Brussels. The ESFRI conclusion does not specify a timeline for a decision. Finally he presented the actual status after the ESFRI discussion and some thoughts on the future organization of a next ESS. This is the open question that close the presentation: Europe will get its source... But when?
21 May 2003	ESS NEWSLETTER (21.05.03) Main topics Project status Disappointment, yet a new perspective? European governments will not decide shortly about a new spallation source, despite efforts of regional ‘site consortia’. The Sites interested in hosting the ESS still pursue their aims! . The Swedish ministries regard ESS as an interesting opportunity. FZJ and NRW are working to keep ESS on the political agenda to allow its realisation in the medium term - preferably near Jülich. Sachsen-Anhalt have continued to be very active in supporting the case of ESS in the hope of seeing it built eventually in the Halle-Leipzig area. Yorkshire Forward is working with the government to look at non-science budget funding arrangements.Technical issues: New superconducting reference design for the ESS Linac. New ESS target - moderator system. Science: ESS will give Europe unique scientific opportunities in various research fields and an overall leading position in all fields of science where neutrons are important.In memory of Jean-Louis Laclare: Jean-Louis Laclare died on April 17th 2003.Latest News, Upcoming Events, ... and more! You can download the current issue of the ESS newsletter: Newsletter - May 2003 (PDF , 405 KB) Previous editions in the Newsletter sub-section
6 May 2003	.... how ESS differs from the US (SNS) and Japanese (J-PARC) projects ..... specific technical solutions and design details after the May 2002 presentation. READ THE ESS PAPER SUBMITTED BY KURT CLAUSEN TO THE ICANS MEETING (06.05.03) The European Spallation Source - K.N. Clausen 16th Meeting of the International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources - May 12 – 15, 2003 Düsseldorf-Neuss, Germany Abstract The ESS project was presented at an international conference in the Congress Centre of the Former House of Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, 16-17 May 2002. The project proposal was documented in 4 volumes, which covers why Europe needs ESS, the scientific case for ESS, the proposed technical specifications of ESS and instrument suite and user support . This report will mainly concentrate on how ESS differs from the US (SNS) and Japanese (J-PARC) projects and on the final selection of specific technical solutions and design details that have been made after the May 2002 presentation. In the final section of the paper possible routes to the realisation of a new next generation spallation neutron source in Europe will be presented and the predicted source strength of the ESS compared to the performance of existing facilities in Europe and the facilities SNS and J-PARC that are under construction. Download the full article (PDF 850 KB)	Download the full article (PDF 850 KB)
10 April 2003	ROUND TABLE SEND A LETTER TO THE EUROPEAN SCIENCE MINISTERS URGING FOR DECISION! (10.04.03). The Neutron Round Table urges regional, national and European Union decision makers to work in partnership with the neutron scattering community, on the basis of the ESFRI recommendations, to (a) produce a specific timescale and plan, and (b) identify funding sources for the necessary underpinning development work leading to the design and construction of a world leading next generation European neutron scattering facility.	Read the full version: Round Table letter - 10 April 2003 (PDF 100 KB)
24 March 2003	ESS COUNCIL CHAIRMAN REBUTTAL TO LORD SAINSBURY IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES (24.03.03)Publication on the Financial Times a response of the ESS Council Chairman to the letter written by Lord Sainsbury published on 17 March 2003. „Sir, It is not for me to express myself about any bias in the UK towards the south when it comes to funding large science projects, something Lord Sainsbury denies (Letters, March 17) in his reaction to an article on a next-generation neutron source in Selby. I am worried, however, at the views he expresses not only because of the seemingly minor mistakes that conceal grave problems. For it is another illustration of European complacency in believing that competition with the US can be met with national decisions. ...."
21 March 2003	GRAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THE ESS PROJECT ! (21.03.03)The Bonn conference in May 2002 was a heyday for the ESS project. The science case for ESS was presented, its initial instrument suite, and the technical design. The neutron science community was justified in nursing hopes that Europe would finally start deciding to fill in its part of the global strategy for neutrons developed by the OECD Megascience Forum and endorsed by the OECD Ministers in 1999. Establishing three new generation spallation sources in the USA, Japan and Europe was the crucial part of this strategy. The conference therefore marked the beginning of the formal efforts to get European governments to agree on building ESS. Within the ESS project itself, work focused on completing the base engineering design. Now, less than a year later, prospects are no longer promising. European governments do not seem prepared to accept that one consequence of their commitment to the Lisbon and Barcelona goals to turn Europe into the most dynamic knowledge-based economy of the world by, among others, investing 3% of its GDP to research in 2010, is to maintain Europe’s lead in neutron science. Neutron users and scientists more generally should be aware of these negative developments. This note aims to provide up-to-date information on the status of the ESS project, and the political prospects in Europe. See the complete document in the Status section
March 2003	ESFRI - NEUTRON WORKING GROUP REPORT NOW AVAILABLE IN THIS WEBSITE (11/03/03). European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures - The Report about Medium to long-term future scenarios for neutron-based science in Europe, is available in Cordis Website (ESFRI report) and now in our ESS Website documentation section. See the "Executive Summary" or download the complete report here: ESFRI Neutron Working Group Report . The Working Group on Neutron Facilities was established by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) at its meeting on July 3, 2002. Its mandate is to carry out a comparative study of different scenarios for the development of facilities for neutron based science in Europe.This report contains a strategic analysis of three medium to long-term future scenarios (10 – 20 years) for neutron-based science and technology in Europe. The analysis has focussed on the existing and proposed top-rank facilities. The three scenarios are compared on the basis of their scientific and technical merits, socio-economic impacts, costs and timeliness seen in a global perspective. The aim of the report is to provide road maps for the decision-making by European governments in the spirit of the European Research Area, ERA.
February 2003	NEW REFERENCE DESIGNS FOR THE ESS: AN ACCELERATOR WITH A SUPERCONDUCTING HIGH ENERGY SECTION AND A NEW LAYOUT OF THE TARGET STATION (17/02/03)After a review of the various options, the ESS Accelerator Team has selected its choice of scheme for the linear accelerator (linac). Essentially the linac does all the hard work in the neutron production process — it takes the negative hydrogen ions coming out of the ion sources and boosts their energies until the total power in the H– beam is 10 MW. Up to 400 MeV the linac chosen is made of normally conducting (NC) copper accelerating cavities running at RF frequencies of 280 and 560 MHz below and above 20 MeV respectively. Beyond 400 MeV and up to the final energy of 1334 MeV superconducting (SC) niobium cavities are used running at 1120 MHz. This innovative linac design is characterised by two H– ion sources, a low frequency front end with two high speed beam choppers, a beam-combining funnel, and a high frequency high energy SC section, and results in 5 MW of beam for each of the long and short pulse applications. With this choice of linac, simulations show that suitably high quality beams can be most readily delivered to the neutron production targets at a cost expected to be similar to or less than an equivalent NC solution. Design: General Target Systems Layout In a meeting held 4th and 5th November 2002 in Saclay, France, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) accepted the newly proposed layout of the target station. The new design provides for horizontal insertion of the moderators and allows to accommodate a solid target option, if necessary. This is in accord with the current ideas for advanced cold moderators. The new design allows 22 neutron beam lines of large cross section per target station. It will be presented in one of the forthcoming editions of the Newsletter.
13 Feb 2003	ESS HAS A NEW WEBSITE Welcome to our new Website - The new website incorporates  an improved structure and a fresh new look to present updated information about the ESS project. The aim of the website is to inform people involved in the project, researchers and management, scientists in other areas interested in our project, industries, politicians, journalists and the general public. The new ESS Europe website provides up-to-date news and is an essential reference of the ESS project. We will continue to work to make our site work for you!.
January 2003	ESS COUNCIL MAKES LAST DESIGN CHOICES AND CONCENTRATES ON ADVANCING A DECISION. (23 /01/03)The Council of the European Spallation Source met in Zürich on January 22, 2003 to decide about the last open questions on the technical design and to discuss the implications of the conclusions that were reached on January 16, 2003 by The European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI).The Council decided to base the ESS on an accelerator with a superconducting high energy part. Together with the very encouraging results on solving the ‘pitting problem’ in the short pulse target, which allows ESS to stay most likely with the liquid Hg target, all major technical uses have now been settled. ESFRI discussed the report on neutron scenarios that a special Working Group had completed just before Christmas. The ESFRI Working Group on neutrons has clearly demonstrated the benefits of especially the full ESS or a stage approach starting with the long pulse Target Station as cost-effective solutions to provide Europe leadership in neutron-based condensed matter research, including crucial areas in biology. The two 1MW short pulse options would bring Europe in a competitive, but not leading position vis-à-vis the USA and Japan provided the latter would not realise the rather large upgrade potential that they are already now considering. The report had also shown how in a new European approach anyone of these options would be affordable in terms of operating costs. Governments, as represented in ESFRI, are however not prepared to decide on the short term on such a facility; they also concluded that a major new neutron facility is necessary for Europe in the long term. As a consequence the Council has decided to concentrate efforts on political attempts to get an earlier decision, which would serve best Europe’s aim to compete with and lead in some important areas of science and technology. In parallel, the technical work will be reduced. More on the ESFRI report, the conclusions of ESFRI and the ESS Council’s position, can be found soon on this site.
19 Nov 2002	THE GERMAN SCIENCE COUNCIL OPENS THE DOOR FOR A RE-ASSESSMENT OF ESS The assessment of the [German] Science Council is a signal for a new departure for the ESS Council, the European partners that co-operate in the project and regional consortia that compete to host the ESS.	More information in our Press releases !
30 Oct 2002	HAELG PRIZE COMMITTEE STRONGLY REJECTS THE GERMAN SCIENCE COUNCILS' VIEW ABOUT FUTURE OF NEUTRONS The ESS Council welcomes very much the letter that has been written to the WR by the Haelg Prize Committee in which these eminent scientists, among them Noble prize winners Karl Alexander Müller (high Tc superconductivity, physics) and Richard R. Ernst (Fourier-transform NMR, Chemistry) strongly reject the WR's Wissenschaftsrat’s view that neutrons would have no future.	Letter (PDF,388KB) Haelg Prize Committee (PDF,139KB)
26 Oct 2002	DECISION OF THE ESS-EXTRACOUNCIL HELD IN FRANKFURT ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2002 ESS Council has reconfirmed its decision to complete the baseline for ESS by the end of 2002. The contributions of Saclay to the more detailed engineering and costing of the Bonn proposal that we have put to the governments, will be taken over by the other ESS partners.The Council will furthermore closely follow the analysis that the ESFRI working group on European neutron scenarios is carrying out. That report and the ensuing discussion within the ESFRI Forum itself will early next year be the basis for further decisions by the Council." Kurt Clausen: ESS Projector Director The ESS Council has appointed Kurt Clausen as the ESS Project Director. He succeds Jean-Louis Laclare to whom ESS owes gratitude for the way he has led the project since last year. The reason for Jean-Louis Laclare to step down is that budgetary problems and the decision to build Spirale-2 at GANIL have forced CEA to reduce its role to being an observer to the Council. The Council very much regrets that decision, but feels strongly encouraged by the support the French scientists and instrument team members keep giving to the ESS.
25 Oct 2002	ESS RESPONSE TO THE GERMAN SCIENCE COUNCIL The ESS Council has responded to the issues raised by the Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) in Germany, and formally submitted the Bonn volumes I-IV for further consideration by the Wissenschaftsrat .	ESS letter to the Wissenschaftsrat. (WORD 310KB)
July 2002	The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures.	(PDF, 7Kb)
June 2002	Lund Council marks the next phase for ESS	(PDF, 4 Kb)
May 2002	ESS presentation in Bonn, 15-17 May 2002.	(PDF, 2 Mb)