[News-releases] B.C. Announces $31M Advanced Isotope Project at TRIUMF

[Tim Meyer]

NEARLY $31M SUPPORTS WORLD-CLASS ISOTOPE RESEARCH
British Columbia Announces Investment in Advanced Isotope Project at TRIUMF

VANCOUVER - A $30.7-million provincial investment in one of the world's top
subatomic 
physics labs is expected to help lead the way in alleviating future medical
isotope shortages, 
while keeping B.C. and Canada at the forefront of particle and nuclear
physics, Premier Gordon 
Campbell announced today.

"B.C. has a well-earned international reputation for its contributions to
nuclear medicine, 
which saves lives by detecting and treating cancer and heart disease,"
Premier Campbell said. 
"Our latest investment in TRIUMF will provide the tools to demonstrate one
new way to 
produce the radio isotopes needed by doctors and patients everywhere, and to
help Canada 
continue its leadership in emerging global industries based on nuclear
physics."

This funding announcement supports ARIEL (Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory),
a 
$62.9-million project to build an underground beam tunnel that will surround
a ground-breaking 
linear accelerator. ARIEL will allow TRIUMF to broaden its research in
producing and studying 
isotopes for medicine and physics, including materials science.
      
The linear accelerator, or e-linac, will produce intense beams of particles
to create isotopes 
of chemical elements. It uses brand new technology developed in B.C. that
produces some of the 
most powerful beams in the world: up to the equivalent of 5,000 light bulbs
concentrated in one 
square centimetre. In addition to medical applications, the laboratory will
expand TRIUMF's 
capacity for addressing a wide range of issues, including reducing
fertilizer runoff, making paper 
mills more efficient, and developing systems to remove pollutants created by
coal-fired plants 
around the world.
      
In addition to the Province's $30.7-million contribution, ARIEL is being
supported by 
$14.4 million through TRIUMF and its partners and $17.8 million from the
Canada Foundation 
for Innovation.  The foundation's contribution directly supports the linear
accelerator portion of 
the project, which is led by the University of Victoria.
      
TRIUMF is located on the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus
and is 
Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. It is owned
and operated by a 
consortium of 15 Canadian universities. TRIUMF was started by the University
of Victoria, 
UBC and Simon Fraser University in 1968, when it was called the TRI
University Meson 
Facility. 

"We're very excited about the tremendous potential of the ARIEL project and
our role in 
it," said University of Victoria president David Turpin. "This facility will
have a dramatic impact 
in multiple sectors of research, the health sciences and commercialization,
and sends a clear signal 
to the world about Canada's commitment to accelerator physics and
engineering."

ARIEL is projected to increase the province's gross domestic product by an
estimated 
$70 million over five years, and to result in $7.5 million added provincial
tax revenues over the 
same period.
       
"The project will also create 160 spinoff jobs in the private sector,
universities and other 
research agencies - not to mention 90 person-years of employment during
construction," said Iain 
Black, Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development.
      
TRIUMF attracts top physicists from around the world who collaborate on
research 
related to particle and nuclear physics, molecular and materials science,
and nuclear medicine. In 
partnership with TRIUMF, MDS Nordion produces 2.5 million patient doses of
medical isotopes 
a year at its Vancouver site.
      
"This is a tremendous step for TRIUMF, for B.C., and for Canada," said Nigel
Lockyer, 
director of TRIUMF. "Building on our strengths, ARIEL and the e-linac will
attract global talent 
and ideas to B.C. with intellectual, economic and social benefits for all
Canadians."
      
The ARIEL project is funded through the $14-billion capital infrastructure
program 
supported by the Province that is creating up to 88,000 jobs and building
vital public 
infrastructure in every region of B.C. 
      
As well as contributing to the linear accelerator, the federal government
also supports 
TRIUMF's core operating expenses.
      
"Our government is investing in science and technology to improve the
quality of life for 
Canadians," said Stockwell Day, federal Treasury Board president, minister
responsible for 
British Columbia, and MP for Okanagan Coquihalla. "I am pleased that our
government has 
helped fund this new isotope lab. This facility will bring employment,
health and scientific 
benefits for British Columbians and people across Canada."
      
Since 2001, the provincial government has invested $1.8 billion in research
and 
innovation. This funding has attracted another $1.3 billion in research
funding from other 
sources.

-30-

********************************************************
Timothy I. Meyer, Ph.D.
Head, Strategic Planning & Communications
TRIUMF
4004 Wesbrook Mall
Vancouver, BC  V6T 2A3  CANADA
Tel: 604-222-7674
Fax: 604-222-3791
Cell: 650-464-8955
E-mail: tmeyer at triumf.ca
WWW: http://www.triumf.ca
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