Construction of CANDLE accelerator to kick off in 2013

YEREVAN, November 30. / ARKA /. Construction of the ring accelerator CANDLE within the frameworks of the same name project in Armenia will begin in late 2013, Samvel Harutyunyan, chairman of the State Science Committee of the Education and Science Ministry of Armenia, said today.

CANDLE (Center for the Advancement of Natural Discoveries Using Light Emission) is a project to create a source of synchrotron radiation of the third generation. The accelerator will provide with opportunities to conduct scientific studies in chemistry, biology, medicine, environmental studies, material studies, pharmaceutics, in the fields of nanoelectronics and micro-production. 

"If everything advances according to the schedule, the construction will be kicked off in late 2013 and be over by the end of 2016,’ he said.

Construction of the ring accelerator is the second phase of the CANDLE project. The first phase calls for construction of AREAL linear accelerator, which will end in May 2013.

"Most of the equipment for the first phase of the project -the construction of AREAL accelerator was provided to us free by our foreign counterparts, and we hope that they will show us support in the implementation of the second stage as well," Harutyunyan said.

CANDLE project leader, Vasily Tsakanov, said the CANDLE accelerator, designed for 3 GeV, will be built near the town of Abovian, some 20 km north of Yerevan. Tsakanov said foreign scientists paid many visits to Armenia to consult their Armenian peers and many Armenian professionals were trained by research centers in Europe. 

Such accelerators are available mainly in leading industrialized nations of the world, such as the United States, Japan, Canada, Great Britain and some others. In the region and in the entire Middle East Armenia will thus become the first country to possess such an accelerator. -0-