ILC bird’s-eye view. Image: Rey.Hori/KEK
The expert panel to discuss whether to invite the International Linear Collider to Japan held its first meeting in Tokyo on 8 May. This panel, chaired by Shinichi Hirano, Zhiyuan Professor and Special President Advisor at Shanghai Jiaotong University, as well as professor emeritus of Nagoya University, is composed of 17 experts from various academic fields, including sociology and science communication.
The charge of this panel is to review the challenges pointed out in the recommendation submitted by the committee under the Science Council of Japan (SCJ) last summer. The SCJ committee was asked by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to discuss the scientific significance of the ILC, the impact of hosting ILC in Japan on the broader academic community or society, and the current status of the project.
Their report concludes “The Committee finds that the ILC is the most natural next machine for electron-positron colliders and that the Technical Design Report (TDR) published in June 2012 is based on the intensive and detailed study conducted by an international team of scientists”.
Taking the SCJ report into account, the panel is charged to discuss about the ILC project on 1) the concrete policy, 2) cost and international sharing, 3) manpower needed for construction and operation, 4) domestic frameworks, 5) social impacts, and other possible issues arising from hosting the ILC in Japan.
In the first meeting, Atsuto Suzuki, Director General of KEK, gave a general report on the ILC project. The panel decided to set up two sub-committees, one to further review the scientific significance, and another to verify the ILC Technical Design Report. The two subcommittees will make detailed investigations, and discuss about the findings at their second meeting to be held in October. The final report will be prepared in the fiscal year 2015.
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