Illinois will remain in competition with one other state to host the $4.4 million Superconducting Super Collider that would increase employment and business in Northern Illinois.

NIU Assistant Physics Professor Daniel Kaplan said, “The super collider will be the foremost scientific laboratory in the world.”

Kenneth Beasley, assistant to NIU President John LaTourette, said that if the SSC is built in Illinois, it will tentatively be located at the site of the scientific laboratory, Fermilab, Batavia. Beasley said it will extend westward to the borders of Kane and DuPage Counties.

The collider will be constucted 300 feet below the ground, he said and will extend to a 53-mile radius.

Currently, Texas is the only state in competition with Illinois as potential locations for the collider.

Beasley said the collider would have “a tremendous economic and scientific impact on the entire region (surrounding it.)”

He said it will cost $4.4 million to construct the collider and about $250 million per year to keep it operational.

However, the collider will bring employment opportunities by requiring about 4,500 workers for construction and 2,500 to 3,500 scientists, engineers and technicians to be permanently hired, Beasley said.

“Fermilab has made a contribution to the growth of high technology and business in that (Batavia) area,” Kaplan said. It has been a strong contributor to the cultural development of the Northern Illinois area, he said.

If constructed in Illinois, the super collider would have a developmental effect similar to that of Fermilab and will bring scientists to Illinois from around the world, Kaplan said.

If the collider is constructed in Texas, Fermilab will become less active, he said.

Kaplan said, “I don’t imagine the SSC will cause a large effect (on the area surrounding the collider). Real estate is already going up in the DeKalb area and the trend will continue without the SSC.

“We (NIU professors) currently do research at Fermilab and employ NIU students to work with us.”

Some of the students employed at the laboratory are working on their masters degrees, Kaplan said.

If the collider is built in Illinois, the scientific relationship between NIU and Fermilab will continue on to the super collider, he said.

Kaplan said the collider probably would help “allied” professions such as computer science, engineering and chemistry.

“It will make NIU a more attractive place for more good faculty,” he said.

Kaplan said if the collider is constructed in Illinois, it will bring federal government tax dollars that will otherwise go to another state.

Beasley said, “The advantage Illinois has is it already has Fermilab here which can be used in running the SSC.” The $500 million invested in Fermilab can be used as an “injector” for the collider, Beasley said.