On August 29th, a physical office was opened for the Tohoku ILC Preparation Office for its activities (Director: Iwate Prefectural University President Dr. Atsuto Suzuki). It will accelerate its deliberations on ILC technology and community planning, as well as create an environment where officials can move quickly on projects once the national government makes a decision on the ILC.
On the 29th, Dr. Suzuki and Chief of Operations Osamu Oe (also managing director of the Tohoku Economic Federation) hung the signboard for the office on the 10th floor of the Sentore Tohoku building, which is in Aoba-ku, Sendai City. The office will be used for meetings and other gatherings.
Dr. Suzuki and Preparation Office Fellow Dr. Satoru Yamashita (Specially-appointed professor, International Center for Elementary Particle Physics at University of Tokyo) held an explanation session for media, where they spoke about their future goals. “We want to create a situation where everyone knows that Tohoku is the only place [for the ILC]; that we are 100% ready for ILC construction.”
The Tohoku ILC Preparation Office was established as an organization in June 2016 by the Tohoku Conference for the Promotion of the ILC. There are sections focused on PR, regional affairs, technology, and industry, as well as two special groups. The Underground Facility group will scrutinize the ILC research facility’s civil engineering/construction plans and specifications. The Master Plan group will deliberate on community planning. These groups will help the Tohoku ILC Preparation Office being its activities in earnest.
The Office will gather together the results of ILC projects that have been undertaken by local governments, research organizations, and private organizations. It will also develop technology for construction and create solutions for regional issues, as well as research the individual economic spinoff effects of the ILC. The national government is scheduled to make a decision on the ILC somewhere around 2017-2018, so the Office aims to give suggestions to the government by summer 2017.
Professor Yamashita indicated he was aware of the issues. “Many people are involved with this project, so using them effectively will have an effect on success or failure; an effect on the scale of economic spinoff effects. It is vital that we share information. We need to show evidence that the technology costs won’t balloon out of control, so we can get the rest of Japan and the entire world on our side. So we need to work out the details.”