U.S. Department of Energy selects MSU as site for $550 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science today named Michigan State University as the site for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).

The $550 million facility will attract top researchers from around the world to conduct experiments in basic nuclear science, astrophysics, and applications of isotopes to other fields. It is expected to bring $1 billion in economic activity and 400 jobs to Michigan, according to an analysis by the Anderson Economic Group. (PDF).

MSU and NSCL: Leaders in Rare Isotope Research

Bringing FRIB to MSU means the world’s leading group of rare isotope scientists, located at MSU’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, will continue to push the boundaries of science to places yet unknown. As the world’s leading rare isotope research facility, NSCL has been the catalyst for MSU’s leadership in nuclear science education and research. Research at MSU and NSCL has led to important breakthroughs in medicine, materials research, national security and physics.

FRIB will provide intense beams of rare isotopes – that is, short-lived atomic nuclei not normally found on Earth – that will enable researchers to address forefront scientific questions in nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics. Such questions include: What is the origin of the elements we find in nature? Why do stars sometimes explode? How can we better model atomic nuclei and their interactions? What are the new applications of isotopes that can better diagnose and cure disease?

FRIB: Exciting new tool for nuclear research

The heart of FRIB will be a high-intensity linear accelerator that is 1,000 times more powerful than existing accelerators at nuclear science facilities in the United States, including the coupled cyclotrons at MSU's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, NSCL. The MSU team will collaborate with leading researchers at other national laboratories and universities to design, assemble and test the new accelerator. Plans call for the accelerator to be built underground adjacent the current NSCL lab site.

FRIB will build on a half-century commitment to accelerator-based nuclear science at MSU, which continues to make investments in NSCL's experimental capabilities. The university is currently funding a significant upgrade of NSCL, expected to be completed by summer 2010, will enable researchers to conduct experiments with fast, stopped and reaccelerated beams of rare isotopes – three technical capabilities required for major advances, according to the nuclear science community.

MSU leaders pleased FRIB coming to MSU

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon: "We are proud to have been selected and are looking forward to partnering with Department of Energy Office of Science to carry this important science forward. I’d like to thank our members of Congress, those business, labor and economic development leaders who joined to advise us, and especially MSU students and their ‘Bring FRIB to our crib’ campaign to educate students about FRIB and encourage their help.

"It was exciting to see our students taking such a prominent role in informing their peers and raising community awareness about our leadership in nuclear science education and research and the importance of this project in continuing that leadership."

More from President Simon

NSCL Director Konrad Gelbke: "FRIB will be guided by partnership and collaboration from day one. We look forward to working with DOE to build a world-leading national user facility for research. While there is deep expertise here at MSU, we will actively seek the best scientific and technical advice and collaborate with the various experts from around the science community to ensure that FRIB users will have broad opportunities to do cutting-edge, world-leading science."

NSCL associate director for research Brad Sherrill: "We want to push the science forward, even before FRIB turns on. Everything we do today to work out the kinks with these experimental capabilities – particularly regarding stopped and reaccelerated beams, which are fairly new technologies – is about ensuring that the new facility is capable of world-leading experiments as soon as it begins operations, and that the breakthrough discoveries come as soon as possible."

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