Press release
26 February 2007
Ministry of Education and Research
The Swedish Government proposes support for locating the ESS in Sweden
The Swedish Government proposes support for locating the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden. The ESS will be one of the largest research facilities in the world and the investment amount to 1,2 billion Euro.
In research and industry product development, there is often a need to study the interior qualities of objects and the structure of materials. One way of doing this is using neutrons to "X-ray" objects.
To do this, enormous neutron sources are required. Nothing like this exists yet in Europe. Two such facilities are, however, currently being built in the USA and Japan. The Government of Sweden is now inviting other European countries to take part in the construction of the next-generation neutron source, the European Spallation Source (ESS), in Sweden.
The ESS is a particle accelerator which, in terms of size and costs, will be very similar to CERN outside Geneva. Such a facility in Europe will considerably increase capacity to study the interior of objects and materials structure.
The total investment for the ESS will amount to some 1,2 billion Euro over a ten-year period. Operating costs will amount to about 100 million Euro per year. The Swedish Government is inviting the rest of Europe to construct ESS in Sweden. We offer to cover 30 per cent of the total costs, and some 10 per cent of operating costs.
An ESS located in Sweden could strengthen Swedish research, the business sector and the labour market. It would also identify Scandinavia as a high-technology region in Europe and the world.
Mr Allan Larsson will lead Sweden´s negotiations with other European countries. The ambition is for the facility to be completed by 2018.
Contact
Johan Britz+46 8 405 10 00
Anne Nilsson
+46 8 405 10 00
