Division 6 PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN GOALS

The ESS facility will have unique, world-leading scientific capabilities as a neutron source when fully operational. By delivering neutrons in long pulses of several milliseconds (nominally 2,86 ms) with low frequency (nominally 14 Hz) to its instrument suite, it will enable efficient use of high intensity thermal and cold neutron beams.

The objective is that ESS will have 22 instruments in steady state operations.

The proton beam power will nominally be 5 MW and the performance will be optimised in accordance with the basic scientific objectives. Compared to ILL (in 2013), ESS neutron scattering instruments will achieve up to 100 times the sensitivity for detecting low signals. Compared to SNS and J-PARC (in 2013), ESS will offer up to a factor of 30 times superior beam intensities in experiments with the same resolution for thermal and cold neutrons.

The ESS facility will be designed to be highly reliable with a design goal of 95 % availability during its annual operational periods of more than 4 000 hours when fully commissioned.

To maintain its world-leading capabilities, reasonable technical headroom in the design will be maintained in order not to preclude future improvements and upgrades.

The ESS facility will have a state-of-the-art scientific and computing infrastructures designed to fully exploit the neutron source, providing a coherent scientific service that makes neutron techniques more accessible, more powerful and more efficient for a wide range of scientific disciplines.

For planning and full lifetime costing purposes, ESS is nominally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2065 and the land restored for other uses in line with the surroundings.

The ESS facility will be designed to protect individuals, the general public and the environment from harm during construction, operation and decommissioning. It will be designed to facilitate the use of renewable energy, to minimise its energy consumption and to recycle a significant amount of its waste heat.