Michigan State University unlocked federal approval for the $730 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, and is on schedule to open in 2022.
The facility was certified as an Energy Office of Science user facility granted by the U.S. Department of Energy during a Sept. 29 ceremony.
In-person or remote attendees included:
Stanley said the designation means the FRIB has reached a level of completeness where scientific research could start at the facility.
"With the incredible project team and the outstanding industrial and commercial partners, we have been building FRIB safely, on time, on budget, and ahead of schedule," director of the FRIB laboratory Thomas Glasmacher said.
The designation shows the FRIB is open and available to all scientists, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette said. MSU, the DOE, and the state partnered to fund the project.
“Today, we are designating more than just a new facility, we’re opening a new frontier in nuclear science,” Brouillette said.
FRIB shows promise to be the world’s most powerful rare isotope beam facility, promising scientific groundbreaking research that can benefit economics and innovation opportunities in not only Michigan but the entire nation.
“FRIB is also a gamechanger for the Michigan economy, creating 1,500 construction jobs, and hundreds of permanent jobs for operations once it opens in 2022, attracting over 500 scientists from around the world annually, and generating $205 million in tax revenues and $831 million in additional gross tax product through 2040,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The university is welcoming 1,500 scientists that are eager to come to FRIB and conduct their research, as FRIB will afford researchers more than 1000 isotopes that have never been produced on Earth, Glasmacher said.
Paul Dubbar, the Department of Energy’s undersecretary for science, said the FRIB would be able to produce 80% of the known isotopes that scientists think can be manufactured. Many of those isotopes are not currently being manufactured. However, the FRIB will be the first facility with the capability to do that with the facility being double the capacity [of others] and has much wider breadth.
"This facility will help cure cancer, this facility will probably help a significant portion of you in the room to understand if you have cardiovascular disease and how to come up with new isotopes from there," Dabbar said. "That's just one example of what we do."
The novel coronavirus pandemic only delayed the project by a short month. Putting the FRIB’s system online is still on target for 2022, Glasmacher said.
To prepare for 2022, MSU will be seeking research proposals from scientists, Glasmacher said. The submissions will be reviewed by a committee and then decided who will work at the FRIB.
According to MSU, the facility users will range from 119 different colleges and universities, 13 national laboratories, and countries.
MSU is the first university to collaborate with the DOE Office of Science on user facility delivered under a cooperative agreement.
FRIB will not only make MSU a leader in rare isotope research but attract students and scientists to East Lansing, Stanley said.
“In a very real sense, FRIB represents MSU’s unique capability and scale as a research institution and is part of our vision to advance the common good with uncommon will,” Stanley said.
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