After five years of rejection, Argonne National Lab has finally garnered congressional approval to begin construction of its $456 million Advanced Photon Source. Wasting not a moment, the lab broke ground just days after receiving $40 million for construction in the 1990 DOE budget, which took effect October 1. The APS, which will be the nation’s second-largest basic science project (after the Superconducting Supercollider) when it is completed in 1995, is designed to produce the brightest X-ray beams in the world. Focused X-ray radiation, with a wavelength as short as 1 angstrom, is used to observe molecular, atomic, and chemical processes with unprecedented detail. APS officials plan to operate the facility like an apartment building, “leasing” 34 experimental areas around the 3,600-foot ring. With a $500,000 initial fee, researchers will be able to reserve a sector for their own use; after that, academic and governmept scientists pay only their own ...
National Lab Briefs
Light Source Fortunes Brighten After five years of rejection, Argonne National Lab has finally garnered congressional approval to begin construction of its $456 million Advanced Photon Source. Wasting not a moment, the lab broke ground just days after receiving $40 million for construction in the 1990 DOE budget, which took effect October 1. The APS, which will be the nation’s second-largest basic science project (after the Superconducting Supercollider) when it is completed in 1995, is
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