The Variable Electron and Cyclotron Centre (VECC) is planning to set up a new facility in the city. The facility will cater to high-end basic research in nuclear physics, nuclear-astrophysics, materials science, atomic physics, and isotope production/applications.
The first phase of the Advanced National Facility for Unstable and Rare Ion Beam (ANURIB) is expected to be operational around 2017. The facility will be constructed in collaboration with Canada-based research institute TRIUMF.
It is expected to come up at the institute’s Rajarhat centre (located on the eastern fringes of the city), said Dinesh Kumar Srivastava, the Centre’s director, on the sidelines of the 100th Indian Science Congress here on Saturday. Work on the project is likely to begin in June.
ANURIB will involve a total cost of Rs 870 crore and is spread across three plan periods. According to initial estimates, the first phase will entail a cost of near Rs 80 crore in the 12th Plan period followed nearly Rs 601 crore and Rs 189 crore in the subsequent ones.
A Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facility is already functioning at the Salt Lake campus of the VECC.
“The ANURIB will be an extension of RIB. While the primary beam at RIB is an alpha beam, at ANURIB we will be using a beam of 50 meV electrons,” he said.
Japan is currently, the only Asian nation to have such a research facility on ANURIB.