The Department of Energy (DOE) has earmarked $18 million in funds to support projects that will speed up the development of particle accelerator technologies.
DOE said Tuesday it will award $6 million through the Accelerator Stewardship program to fund efforts that will focus on the application of particle accelerators in security, industry, energy and medicine.
The department will provide $7 million to projects that will explore accelerators' technical gaps, while a total amount of $5 million is allotted for traineeship programs at universities and minority-serving institutions.
Particle accelerators are designed to yield beams of charged particles for a range of uses such as cancer therapy, medical imaging and semiconductor production. Various DOE facilities contributed to the development of accelerator technologies for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
"Accelerator-based technologies are all around us, from new medical therapies to ways to make solar panels—and we’ve only scratched the surface of their potential to tackle a host of 21st-century challenges," said DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
