Work on the ¥10bn ($1.5bn) Beijing-based laboratory will start early next year, while the Shanghai-based laboratory recently received approval from government funding agencies. Covering an area of 13 km2 on the outskirts of Beijing, the new national lab will comprise three major research facilities: the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility (SECUF), the Beijing Advanced Photon Source (BAPS) and the Earth System Simulator. It will also feature five “research platforms” that focus on accelerator technology, clean energy, materials genome, environment science and brain science. After seven to eight years of construction, the lab will house some 3000 employees, a scale similar to Argonne or Oak Ridge national laboratories.

CAS news release, Octdober 19, 2016