S. Korea to build linear-circular ion collider

SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new heavy ion collider will likely feature a design that combines a connected linear accelerator and a circular one, a committee in charge of construction said Friday. The government plans to build the particle accelerator by 2018 at a cost of 460 billion won (US$425 million) to help local researchers better understand physics, astrophysics and fundamental interactions of atoms. It can also be used to develop new materials that could benefit mankind. The national science belt preparation committee said the Korea Rare Isotope Accelerator (KORIA) is unique in that it connects the linear and circular accelerators. KORIA will enable scientists to accelerate particles from very light hydrogen to heavy uranium that may lead to discoveries of rare isotopes not normally found in nature, it said. "By connecting the two types of accelerators, more diverse collisions can be arranged to create a range of rare isotopes," the committee said in its conceptual design. The design calls for the linear accelerator to be 700 meters long and have an output of 400 kilowatts (kW), while the circular accelerator or the cyclotron is to be built to generate 70kW of power and have a diameter of 10 meters, it said. The preparation committee added that KORIA will be built on 1.08 square kilometers of land with the two accelerators to be placed 10 meters underground. The heavy ion collider is a key part of South Korea's 3.5 trillion won plan to build a world class science-business belt in the country that can attract leading scientific talent from abroad. The plan was first announced in late 2008. Seoul is expected to announce the candidate sites for the science belt by June. In addition to KORIA, the belt will become home to the new National Basic Science Institute and 50 associated laboratories that can hire up to 3,000 scientists.