University of Virginia Library

REPORT ON THE SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITIES RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
AND THE NATIONAL ELECTRON ACCELERATOR LABORATORY

President Hereford reported that the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) has recommended that the National Electron Accelerator Laboratory be built in Virginia, and that the University of Virginia is supporting a plan that would build it in the Charlottesville area. The University of Virginia Alumni Association has taken an option on property near the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport which would serve as an excellent site for the Laboratory. The accelerator will be the largest in the world. It was designed by Professor James S. McCarthy of the University of Virginia Department of Physics. Two other Virginia institutions, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the College of William and Mary are backing sites for the proposed facility near their respective campuses.

The President explained that though SURA has recommended that the facility be built in Virginia, the final determination of the site rests with the United States Congress. The accelerator laboratory will be federally funded, and it is expected to be included as a $500 million item in the 1985 Department of Energy budget.