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DOE Pulse
  • Number 322  |
  • October 11, 2010

Fermilab builds pioneering accelerator facility

During phase I of the construction of the test accelerator facility, contractors doubled the length of an existing building on the Fermilab site to make room for a 460-foot-long prototype accelerator.

During phase I of the
construction of the test accelerator
facility, contractors doubled the
length of an existing building
on the Fermilab site to make
room for a 460-foot-long prototype
accelerator.

DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has started phase II of the construction of a new accelerator test facility to advance the development of superconducting radio-frequency technology. SRF cavities, which operate at -456 degrees Fahrenheit to eliminate electrical resistance, will be critical to the next generation of particle accelerators.

Fermilab is using $52.7 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to advance its SRF program. The new facility, which will occupy three buildings and host a 460-foot-long test accelerator, will be the first of its kind in the United States. Phase I of the test facility construction began in March 2010. Fermilab will use the facility to test SRF cryomodules, validate the SRF manufacturing capability of vendors from U.S. industry, and conduct experiments with electron beams.


[Kathryn Grim, 630.840.3351,
kgrim@fnal.gov]