With the newest federal appropriations bill including $55 million to fund the construction of MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, university officials are waiting anxiously for Congress to approve the potential funds.
Congress likely will vote on the issue within the next two weeks. MSU spokesman Jason Cody said if the bill does pass, he said construction likely will begin in this spring. An exact date has yet to be determined.
The facility currently is undergoing pre-construction procedures. Once completed, it will include a superconducting linear accelerator, allowing a community of scientists worldwide to produce and study the properties of isotopes. Its emergence could further improve MSU’s reputation as a renowned research university and improve future research ventures.
“MSU has one of the top nuclear physics programs, so a project like this will have other impacts and help us attract faculty and new graduate students who want to come here and study,” Cody said.
The conversation of federal funding for the facility began in April of 2012, when President Barack Obama included FRIB in his budget proposal for the next federal fiscal year. That year, MSU received $22 million in FRIB funding.
Cody said several studies have predicted up to $1 billion in economic impact, and estimated there would be up to about $180 million or so in new tax revenue with FRIB’s creation.
He said faculty members do not account for all of the tax revenue that the facility could potentially produce at its full capacity.
“Think about all the materials that will be bought that will have to be produced somewhere,” he said. “All the people that have to come here to work on this will have to be spending money in the community.”
Members of FRIB’s project management team were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
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