For Immediate Release

Lund, September 2, 2014

The Construction of ESS is Underway

Today, a groundbreaking event took place to signal the official start of the construction for the European Spallation Source. The ceremony follows a July 4 announcement by host countries, Sweden and Denmark, in which they publicly declared they had secured political and financial commitments with the ESS Partner Countries sufficient to begin the construction of Europe's newest science research facility.

The groundbreaking was conducted by Danish Minister for Science and Higher Education, Sofie Carsten Nielsen, and Swedish Minister of Education and Research, Jan Björklund. Denmark and Sweden have successfully led European science forward on a path toward increased innovation and competitiveness and brought a large number of European nations together.

“To start the construction of ESS today is one of Europe’s most important commitments to science,” says Jim Yeck, ESS Director General. “It has been a long road for ESS supporters to get this far. We are thrilled about the fact that we have reached this milestone and can start construction on time.”

Experts all over Europe are prepared to build one of the world's most powerful instruments for using neutrons to study nature’s building blocks. As a next generation facility, ESS is expected to be significantly brighter and more intense than existing facilities, enabling new opportunities for researchers helping to develop new products, ranging from materials for wind turbines to mobile phone technology to new types of batteries.

“Our mission is now to complete and operate the best and most powerful neutron source in the world and we are determined to succeed,” says Yeck.

First neutrons are expected by 2019 and the first experiments are planned to begin in 2023. The cost is calculated to € 1,843 billions. Nearly half of it will come from the host countries, Denmark and Sweden, while the other half will come from partner countries other than the hosts. In addition, there will be an annual operation cost estimated at about € 140 million.

For further information, please contact:

Allen Weeks, Head of Communications and External Relations, allen.weeks [at] esss.se ( )+46 46 888 31 52.

For facts, images and illustrations, please visit www.europeanspallationsource.se.

The European Spallation Source is a partnership of 17 European nations committed to the goal of collectively building and operating the world’s leading facility for research using neutrons by the second quarter of the 21st Century.