MSU's FRIB will call for power to supply 14,000 homes

• When completed%2C MSU's FRIB will require 14 megawatts of power
• The %2411.5 million construction project will be on the agenda for approval by MSU trustees Friday
• For comparison%2C the Breslin Center requires one megawatt of consumption to operate

EAST LANSING – There are campus facilities that require power and then there will be the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

The $730 million nuclear science research facility will use 14 megawatts when it goes online sometime between 2020 and 2022, the same amount of electricity required to power 14,000 average homes or 14 Breslin Centers.

The university is now proposing to spend $11.5 million to link FRIB with the T.B. Simon Power Plant on campus using a 25 megawatt capacity duct. The full project, which is scheduled for a vote by the Board of Trustees on Friday, will include a switch-house, new duct line and modifications to the power plant.

"This project will allow FRIB to better connect to the university power plant as we move forward," said FRIB project manager Thomas Glasmacher.

FRIB will need an initial seven megawatts of energy by early 2017 as it will be built in phases. By doing the work now, the university will save $1 million by not having to use a temporary power connection, according to board documents.

Building a new switch-house will also give the facility the ability to implement alternative power sources in the future like solar, wind and gas powered generation.

If approved, work on the electrical connection would start start in January and be mostly complete by January of 2016.

Construction began earlier this year on the 227,000-square-foot building that will house the project, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, MSU and the state of Michigan.

FRIB will be a next-generation facility for rare isotope research. It is expected to increase the number of isotopes with known properties from about 2,000 to more than 5,000.