The aspiring European Spallation Source has no doubt suffered setbacks, but whether it is dead or just delayed is a matter of perspective.
“Chances are [the ESS] will be shelved,” says Peter Tindemans, chair of the ESS council and an independent policy expert in the Hague. “Of course, I am not happy about this. It would be a setback for Europe vis-à-vis the United States and Japan,” which expect to complete, respectively, 1.4 MW and 1 MW spallation sources in 2006. If it’s built, the ESS will outdo them, with two 5 MW experimental stations. If it’s not, Europe will cede its long-held leadership in neutron science.
Low marks in Germany’s review of big facilities last year were followed in February by no money for the ESS when that government announced which facilities it would fund (see Physics Today, November 2002, page 24). The ESS received another blow...
