Argonne will welcome U.S. Department of Energy Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar to the laboratory for a small, socially distanced groundbreaking ceremony for the Long Beamline Building at the Advanced Photon Source (APS).
 
Argonne invites members of the APS user community and others to watch the ceremony via livestream to celebrate the symbolic start of the construction phase of the APS Upgrade project. Although the Long Beamline Building (part of the APS Upgrade project) will not begin construction until later this year, Wednesday’s ceremony both commemorates the progress made on the upgrade project so far and looks ahead to the future of the APS.
 
The Long Beamline Building will be the only externally visible part of the APS Upgrade and will house two new beamlines, each about three times longer than those in use now. These new beamlines will enable the APS user community to take full advantage of the enhanced capabilities of the new storage ring and it will open the door to discoveries in many scientific fields enabling breakthroughs in energy efficiency, longer-lasting batteries and more durable materials, among other expected innovations.
 
Under Secretary Dabbar will join Argonne Director Paul Kearns, DOE Argonne Site Office Manager Joanna Livengood, University of Chicago Vice President for National Laboratories Juan de Pablo, and members of the APS leadership team to break ground for the Long Beamline Building. Though limited operations restrictions prevent us from hosting a full in-person celebration, we hope you can join us to watch the livestream from wherever you are, using the link above.