Korean Government to Invest 2 Trillion Won in Heavy Ion Accelerator

The Korean government in cooperation with the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) are going to create a heavy ion accelerator facility (HIAF) with an investment of more than 2 trillion won. The heavy ion accelerator is expected to be the world’s first device using both the Isotope Separator On Line (ISOL) and In-Flight (IF) methods.  

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) announced on May 9 that it decided to build a HIAF inside the International Science and Business Belt (ISBB) in Daejeon, in partnership with IBS. The decision was made in the sixth International Science and Business Belt committee meeting on that day. A heavy ion accelerator is a device that provides Rare Isotope Beams, which will be operated under the umbrella of IBS.  

ISBB’s campus is also going to be built separately in five specialized universities such as the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. 

The government is planning to inject 2.1264 trillion won (US$2.0754 billion) by 2021, including 1.6662 trillion won (US$1.6262 billion) in project expenses and 460.2 billion won (US$449.2 million) in a budget for equipment for the heavy ion accelerator. Construction cost estimates related to the heavy ion accelerator amount to 1.4445 trillion won (US$1.4098 billion). 

An official at MSIP said, “With the locally-made accelerator, we hope that global talent in the field of nuclear physics, materials science, and biomedical science will work together, and the nation’s basic science will be upgraded as a result.”