News Release Communique
$8.2 M in Synchrotron Contracts Awarded to Local and International Firms
The University of Saskatchewan has awarded contracts totalling almost $8.2 million to three Saskatchewan firms and two international firms for work on the Canadian Light Source (CLS) synchrotron project currently under construction on campus.
The contracts approved by the U of S Board of Governors bring the total committed funds for CLS construction and services to $69 million, of which more than $47.7 million (69 per cent) has gone to Saskatchewan companies.
Construction of the $173.5-million U of S-owned national synchrotron facility is on time and on budget. The CLS, a new tool for science and technological innovation, will begin operations in January of 2004. Synchrotron light, billions of times brighter than sunlight, can be used to observe structures and chemical reactions at the molecular level and has applications in a broad range of industries.
The latest contracts:
- $2.53 million to Inter-City Mechanical Ltd. of Saskatoon for installation
of the mechanical systems for the booster and storage ring – including
cooling water systems, instrument air system, exchangers, pumps, and systems
for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems of the rings.
The storage ring is a large, doughnut-shaped vacuum tube in which racing electrons circulate, producing brilliant synchrotron light. The booster ring ramps up the energy of the electrons to intensify the light.
- $2.23 million to EDS Canada Ltd. to design the computer and communications infrastructure for the CLS. The firm, which has a Saskatoon office, will provide a blueprint for how to meet the complex information technology needs of the CLS.
- $1.24 million to Alliance Energy Ltd. of Saskatoon for installation of electrical services to the booster and the storage ring – including the installation of cable trays, switches for equipment control, cable, lighting to the tunnels, and service distribution.
- $1.65 million to SigmaPhi S.A. of France for design, fabrication and
delivery of 72 quadrupole and 36 sextupole magnets for the storage ring.
These large, computer-controlled magnets are used to bend and accelerate
the stream of electrons that run through the synchrotron’s storage
ring.
- $519,000 to Bergoz Instrumentation of France for specialized electronic components for diagnostics and monitoring of the electron beam in the facility. The firm is the only supplier of these components worldwide for the specific features required by the CLS.
All contract bidding was in accordance with U of S purchasing protocols to ensure a fair, transparent competitive bid process and compliance with university policies, the Law of Competitive Bidding, and the federal-provincial Agreement on Internal Trade regarding publicly funded entities.
CLS construction is mainly funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian government, the Saskatchewan government, the Alberta government, the Ontario government, the University of Saskatchewan, the City of Saskatoon, and SaskPower.
For more information on the CLS, visit: http://www.lightsource.ca
Kathryn Warden
Research Communications Officer
Office of the Vice President (Research)
Tel:(306) 966-2506
Fax:(306) 966-2411
kathryn.warden@usask.ca
Office of the Vice-President (Research)
Martin Heikoop
CLS Project Manager
Tel: (306) 227-3081 (cellular)
mheikoop@cls.usask.ca
Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:44