State Secretary Quennet-Thielen visits construction site
At the end of her two-hour stay at DESY, Cornelia Quennet-Thielen, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, also visited the European XFEL construction site in Schenefeld.
It was dark already when State Secretary Cornelia Quennet-Thielen (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) arrived at the info point FELIX in Schenefeld on 25 November, in the company of the Managing Director of the European XFEL GmbH and three DESY Directors. They quickly donned the safety gear and, as time was short, drove by car to the other side of the site.
The visit concentrated on the tunnel construction. The group descended into the shaft from which the tunnel boring machine TULA was launched at the beginning of July, and peered through the first completed tunnel section. Afterwards, they stopped at the shaft from which TULA is currently excavating the second switchyard tunnel direction Osdorfer Born, where it is due to arrive in mid-December.
The highlight of the visit, however, was the large construction pit for the future experiment hall, in which the technicians of the manufacturer are currently installing the smaller tunnel boring machine prior to its launch on 3 January 2011. Back at the surface, the group even had some time left to admire the cutterhead (left picture), which is stored there till its assembly.
