NEWPORT NEWS -- Jefferson Lab in Newport News is all about research to better understand the atom's nucleus.
This national accelerator facility wants to be home to the next big nuclear physics facility being planned by the Department of Energy -- an EIC or Electron-Ion Collider. It's competing with Brookhaven Lab on Long Island, New York.
Wednesday night in his State of the Commonwealth address, Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) made it clear he wants to seal the deal.
"Our sole competition for the Ion Collider is the State of New York and we simply cannot let those New Yorkers come down to Virginia and take our projects from us," said McAuliffe.
The contract could mean nearly 5,000 jobs over ten years, bringing a big boost to the economy. The collider upgrade would be a $600 million deal.
"That brings more energy into the collision and you can look deeper inside the atomic nucleus and study them in more detail than you can presently at this facility," said Robert McKeown, deputy director for science at Jefferson Lab.
Last year's state budget earmarked $4.6 million for an upgrade just to be in the running, but those funds were removed due to revenue shortfalls. $4.2 million is budgeted this year, but the General Assembly still has to approve the allocation.
