The China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), a cooperative project of CAS and the governments of Guangdong Province and Dongguan City, has recently received the green light from a panel of environmental assessment under the auspices of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
At the assessment meeting held on 17 June in Dongguan, project manager of CSNS Mr. WEI Jie made a report on the overall conditions of the project, and Prof. LIU Yuanzhong from Tsinghua University made a report on its environmental impact. Then the experts made an on-the-spot inspection, and posed questions on such issues as concrete location of the project, its local records of earthquakes, target value of dose management, radiation source control. They finally endorsed that conclusion claiming that the environmental impact of the project is within the acceptable range.
As a key mega-science facility during the 11th Five-Year Plan Period (2006-2010), the 1.2 billion yuan (or US$137 million) project was approved by the central government in 2005 and has been listed in the National Medium- and Long-term Plan for S&T Development.
According to the blueprint of the CAS-Guangdong cooperation on the project, the facility will take seven years to complete with financial support from the State. Guangdong will provide the construction site, as well as matching funds for its operation and for the establishment of a national laboratory for such a research subject.
