Czech in kind contribution to ESS Target station: Fluid Systems reached the CDR

Lund/Řež 31/8/2017: The Czech in kind contribution to the European Spallation Source (ESS) construction passed an important milestone.

The target primary (Agreement TIK 5.1) and intermediate (Agreement TIK 5.2) water cooling systems and the air conditioning including heating systems of the target building (Agreement TIK 5.3) successfully passed the milestone of the Critical Design Review (CDR). The endeavour is a collaboration between ESS, NPI and NPI´s subcontractor Nuvia, a.s. with an amout of work which reaches 0,5 billion CZK.

On the occasion of reaching this important point for the delivery of the Target technologies NPI asked Håkan Carlsson, the ESS fluid systems Work Package Manager, about his experience with the Czech in kind partners:

NPI: Could you characterize the collaboration on the TIKs 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3?

HC: “Designing and building ESS is a challenging task due to 1) it is a unique state-of-the-art facility for neutron generation and 2) it is a green-field site. For the collaboration with out Czech in-kind partner it means a lot of communications and understanding from both partners regarding the challenges in this project. We have together mitigated misunderstanding by having frequent meetings, physical meetings once a month and video meeting once a week plus frequent mail correspondence. This setup has been absolutely necessary for a successful result of the project and we have been collaborated in a very good spirit. We are also impressed by the professional competence and engagement in the project by our Czech colleagues.”

NPI: Why is reaching a consensus on CDR so important for the target technologies delivery?

HC: “The Critical Design Review is very important for ESS as it reviews if the proposed design fulfills all the requirements stated for the system. The CDR is also a chance to get comments from reviewers coming from similar facilities around the world, as ESS does not have operational experience yet. It is also important to make sure that stakeholders, interfacing systems, safety etc., get a chance to comment on the proposed design before proceeding with procurement. Making changes later in the project will be much more expensive than making adjustments before starting the procurement phase.”

Thank you for your time, and I wish all good to ESS.

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