China: China's largest heavy ion research facility forges scientific edge

China's heavy ion research facility in Lang Zhou, operated by the Institute of Modern Physics, continues playing an important role in the country's scientific research and social development. As the largest heavy ion research facility in China, the center is also one of the few large scale full ion accelerating systems in the world, which can accelerate ions from hydrogen to uranium to high energies. The Long Joe Accelerator is also advancing the development of new crops through induced mutation, the process of using ion beams to disrupt a seeds DNA, forcing it to generate mutants with certain desirable traits like rice that's salt alkali tolerant. It's mutagenic dosage and mutagenic energy are artificially adjustable. By using heavy ion beam induced mutational breeding technology, we've obtained a new rice variety, Dongdao 122, with high quality, high yield and salt alkali tolerance, as well as a new low cadmium rice variety. The heavy ion research facility in Lang Chou was first established in the 1970s, reaching international advanced levels of operation by 1988. Today, the center has 20 experimental terminals with an annual experimental beam feeding time of more than 5000 hours.