NFRI builds new Plasma Research Center

South Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced that the ground breaking ceremony for Convergence Plasma Research Center of National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) was held at Saemangeum Exhibition Hall in Gunsan City on 17 March.

The Convergence Plasma Research Center will be constructed in three stages; the first started today and is expected to be completed in August 2011, with a construction cost of 13 billion won ($11.4 million). The total plot of ground is about 60,000 squared meters in the Gunjang National Industrial Complex of Gunsan (located about 275 kilometers south-west of Seoul).

The new centre is to undertake a function of the nation's leading laboratory for research and development on plasma and related applications. It will focus on the R&D of convergence plasma technologies such as semiconductors, displays, the environment and energy, and commercializing derivatives of fusion technologies. It will also serve as a training center and R&D hub for plasma technology.

President GS Lee in his opening remarks stated that, "By the construction of the Convergence Plasma Research Center, we will assist in the transfer of advanced fusion technologies and related applications to industry, training high caliber specialists, and creating new jobs. The Convergence Plasma Research Center can become a world centre of convergence plasma technology. With the completion of the second stage construction in 2013, the centre will be transformed into an international hub of R&D as well as industrialization in the field of plasma science."