RAL Visit Provides Insights into ESS Development

During a visit to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Oxford, the Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research saw the contribution the UK is making to the European Spallation Source (ESS), a next generation science facility being built in Lund that will become the world’s largest microscope.

As part of a broader UK visit in which she was meeting with the UK Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Sam Gyimah, Swedish Minister Helene Hellmark Knutson visited STFC’s RAL and learnt about the success story of STFC’s ISIS neutron and muon source, an accelerator-based facility that the ESS is modelled on, that produces neutrons for a large array of advanced instruments supporting research teams working on global challenges from healthcare to fuel technology.

The Minister also heard first-hand the in-kind contributions STFC is making to the construction of the ESS. UK in-kind contributions to the accelerator are being delivered by STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, to the target by the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (RACE) and to the instruments by the ISIS neutron source. The overall UK-ESS project is managed through a group based in ISIS. The Minister also visited Diamond light Source where she heard about the UK’s contribution to Max IV, a synchrotron facility in Sweden.

After the visit, Dr Andrew Taylor, STFC’s Executive Director, National Laboratories said:

“We were delighted to welcome the Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutson to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. We have a strong working relationship with Sweden, notably through our collaboration on ESS, building on the long established Swedish use of ISIS and are looking forward to continuing to strengthen our relations when ESS comes online and beyond.”