Today, the ESS Steering Committee launched the Preconstruction Phase at their first meeting in Copenhagen. Representatives from 13 European Countries, who will partner the building of the European Spallation Source in Lund, met in order to form the governing body of this European project and agreed upon the specifications and guidelines needed to start the next phase, the Preconstruction phase.

— We have reached a very positive point from which we will move on to define how we will build the facility, says Colin Carlile, Director of ESS. Now we have a clear mandate from the Steering Committee to start the Design Update thus ensuring that the facility will be the most powerful neutron source in the world.

- It was a really good meeting, in all ways demonstrating the determination amongst the representatives and their countries to realize this groundbreaking facility in Lund.
Other topics that were discussed were the forming of the new organisation, and the Advisory committees advising on technical and scientific issues and the Environmental Policy stating that the facility will be climate neutral.

The 13 countries are Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and Iceland.