This week, UK engineers from Daresbury, Cheshire, have delivered a key piece of prototype equipment to one of the world’s most ambitious scientific experiments, currently being built in Sweden.

STFC teams are playing a crucial role in the design and development of the 1.9 billion Euro European Spallation Source (ESS).

When finished, it will be the most powerful particle accelerator in the world dedicated to generating neutrons to help look deep inside the materials from which the world is made.

With powerful proton beams that are 100 times brighter than any other facility in the world, it will help them to unlock the secrets of materials at the atomic level.

The 600 metre particle accelerator, situated in Lund, Sweden, will use a proton beam travelling at 90% of the speed of light to chip off (or spallate) tiny particles called neutrons from the nuclei of atoms, which will lead to advances in the environment, transport, cleaner energy and medicine.

Engineers at Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire are playing an important role in the development of new accelerating technology, with a £10.5 million project to design, and construct 130 different beam transport modules, forming 70% of the entire length of the accelerator. The first prototype Beam Transport Module unit has now been delivered to the ESS, Lund.

Mechanical Engineer at STFC, Dr Paul Aden, who is the project manager on the design and construction of the Beam Transport Modules, said: “The design of these modules is based around many years’ experience of designing modules for cutting edge accelerators both in the UK and internationally.

“This project, which will require more than 30 staff years of effort, will deliver the final module in 2019, marking the end of the ESS stage 1 installation, and the point at which the accelerator can be switched on.”