The start of something is always an exciting time, and as the ARIEL project takes shape at TRIUMF, this is no exception. On March 28, 2011, a ceremonial groundbreaking took place to commemorate the start of formal construction of the new Stores Building on the south east side of the Proton Hall Expansion.
The Director of TRIUMF, Nigel Lockyer, initiated the construction by personally taking the controls of an excavator and moving one large shovelful of earth. In just thirty weeks of time, the two-story high new building is expected to be completed. Scott Construction was selected for the project and their schedule is aggressive and impressive.
When the replacement Stores Building is complete, the existing forty-year old building will be retired from its service and ready for a new page of TRIUMF history: the formal launch of construction for TRIUMF's news flagship facility – the Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory (ARIEL) . ARIEL includes a next-generation linear accelerator that will be sited in the old Proton Hall, now re-named the Electron Hall after the type of particle to be used by the new accelerator. The ARIEL project brings together many partners including the Government of Canada, the Government of British Columbia, the University of Victoria together with the other TRIUMF joint-venture universities. By the end of 2014, ARIEL’s new facilities will be sited at the location of the existing Store Building, East of the Main Office Building on the TRIUMF site, and the e-linac will have accelerated first beams.
The Stores groundbreaking ceremony heralds TRIUMF’s steady progress toward a new era of research and development of isotopes for science and medicine.
Footage from the Ground Breaking Ceremony
Schematics of the new Stores building. Click on image for larger view.
-- Written by Angus Ng, Outreach Assistant