Michigan State University Wins $550 Million Nuclear Physics Facility

It won’t have smokestacks or be pushing automobiles or computer chips off an assembly line, but the $550 million plum that landed in East Lansing, MI last week is similar in size to many industrial recruitment/retention deals sought by conventional economic development efforts. This one, though, could have a longer lasting and higher quality economic impact compared to conventional recruitment/retention deals.

The Department of Energy announced it has chosen Michigan State University (MSU) as the future home of the next big thing in nuclear physics, a $550 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). FRIB research will involve experimentation with intense beams of rare isotopes-short-lived nuclei not normally found on earth. That research is expected to advance critical applications in the areas of materials science, medicine, and stockpile stewardship.

The economic payoff to the Lansing region could be tremendous. The research opportunities alone are expected to draw an international community of approximately 1,000 university and laboratory scientists, postdoctoral associates, and graduate students. Most of those high paying, high-skilled jobs are several years away, however.

In the near term, the mostly underground facility will take many years to build, providing a steady demand for design, engineering, planning, and related construction and facility supply jobs.

The Lansing State Journal reports, "Estimates say the project will bring $1 billion in new economic activity and $187 million in tax revenue over 20 years; 300 jobs for scientists and facility staff; 5,800 one-year construction jobs; 220 spinoff jobs."

MSU already hosts the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, which will continue operations and rare isotope research during FRIB construction. According to the DOE press release, MSU’s application for FRIB was judged to be superior to other contenders. In addition, MSU was selected based on the merit review criteria and the program policy factor contained in MSU’s bid, including provision of a proposed budget that is reasonable and realistic, giving substantial confidence that MSU can establish the FRIB within the cost limitations set by DOE.

But the competition was not completely unlike the traditional smokestack chasing of conventional economic development: MSU also offered a direct cost share to the federal project, counting on recovering its investments in the economic development spinoffs, increased federal grants, and related tax revenues returning to the school and community.

More information is available at: http://www.energy.gov/news/6794.htm.

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