Site where IFMIF-DONES will be built.
The Government Delegate in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, confirmed that May 19 will mark the official groundbreaking ceremony for the building that will house IFMIF-DONES in the town of Escúzar, Granada. The particle accelerator will be installed at this site, as part of an international scientific project aiming to give rise to a new energy model.
“It will be a symbolic groundbreaking, but it will undoubtedly be a key milestone, as it will provide full certainty and visibly demonstrate that construction has officially begun on what is the largest scientific investment in Spain’s history and one of the most important in all of Europe,” Fernández stated during a visit to Motril, where he was inspecting construction work on a breakwater at Punta del Santo, an event also attended by the city’s mayor, Luisa García Chamorro.
Fernández recalled that the project includes participation from Croatia, which is contributing 5% of the accelerator’s funding. The initiative has a total cost of around €800 million, plus €50 million annually in operating expenses. It is expected to create approximately 11,000 jobs. “Not only will we retain Andalusian and Spanish talent, but a significant amount of international talent will also come to work at these facilities,” the delegate stated, emphasizing that the project is being carried out in partnership with the University of Granada.
He added that a second accelerator is already being considered, along with the possibility that sectors beyond energy will benefit from the development in Escúzar. The facilities will validate materials that will later be used in fusion reactors—plants capable of generating clean, unlimited energy by replicating the same reactions that occur in stars.
The groundbreaking ceremony at Citai in Escúzar will be attended by the Minister of Science, Innovation, and Universities, Diana Morant. Several auxiliary buildings are already under construction in the business park, and the UGR-DONES building, owned by the University of Granada, is already in operation.