Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a plan to provide $22 million for efforts to advance particle accelerator technology for medical, security, energy, and industrial applications. The efforts fall under two programs, the Accelerator Stewardship program, which supports cross-disciplinary teams to solve high impact problems confronting the country, and the Accelerator Development program, which is aimed at strengthening domestic suppliers of accelerator technology. Together, these programs support basic research and development (R&D), use-inspired R&D, and supply chain resiliency by fostering stronger collaboration between the academic research community and the domestic private sector.
“Particle accelerator technology drives many of today’s scientific instruments,” said Dr. Steve Binkley, Acting Director of the Office of Science. “These investments will advance the technology for a new generation of research instruments and apply the gains to broader applications in medicine, industry, security, and the environment through partnerships with industry.”
Research funded by the Accelerator Stewardship program aims to uncover innovative solutions to technological barriers that inhibit the use of accelerator technology, provide the fundamental building blocks of new technological advances, and facilitate access to DOE accelerator R&D capabilities. R&D teams are expected to combine interdisciplinary expertise across technologies (e.g., accelerator and medical technologies) and across sectors (e.g., national laboratories, universities, and industry).
Research funded by the Accelerator Development program aims to reduce supply chain risks in accelerator technologies needed for next-generation scientific facilities and for industrial applications. Partnerships between the public and private sector will be funded to strengthen the accelerator technology capabilities of domestic industry, with a focus on strengthening production capabilities, and enhancing knowledge and technology transfer.
The Accelerator Stewardship and Accelerator Development programs, as national resources for accelerator technology, develop R&D objectives and make award selections that are coordinated with multiple federal agencies.
R&D funded to date has provided advances that may lead to reductions in cost and improvements in quality of cancer therapy, can increase the speed of laser-based scientific research by 1000 times, reduce the cost of non-chemical methods of destroying pathogens and toxic chemicals, and enhance national security. Fundamental advances in the concepts, computational techniques, materials, and methods for making advanced accelerators has also been supported, resulting in better design, better materials, and new methods for generating particles and radiation that will support a wide array of applications. New R&D relationships between the public and private sectors will be explored through support for teams to develop industrialization plans for accelerator technology.
Applications will be open to all qualified domestic entities. Funding is to be awarded competitively, on the basis of peer review, and is expected to be in the form of 1 to 3-year grant awards ranging from $50,000 to $1,000,000 per year, beginning in the current fiscal year. Total planned funding is $22 million over three years, with future-year funding contingent on congressional appropriations.
A DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement and a Frequently Asked Questions document, issued by DOE's Office of Science, may be found here.
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