Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Jefferson Lab, announced that on August 6, 2000 the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) accelerator boosted their electron beam to 6.07 GeV (billion electron volts), 150% of the original CEBAF energy (4 GeV). The capability of the current physics experimental program is extended by delivering more electrons at a higher energy (meaning greater mass). 6 GeV will be the highest energy routinely delivered to Jefferson Lab users for the next several years.

To enable experimenters to probe deep inside the atom's nucleus with electrons, Jefferson Lab pioneered superconducting technology for accelerating electrons to high energy in efficient, cost-effective accelerators. This technology has led to the Lab's record-breaking Free Electron Laser which is based on this technology. The Lab's expertise is also sought for other superconducting-based projects like the Spallation Neutron Source being built in Oak Ridge at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For this project Jefferson Lab has been awarded a contract for $70M to engineer and assemble most of the superconducting accelerator components being used in the project and to oversee the installation of helium refrigeration equipment, helium transfer lines and a superconducting radiofrequency facility in Oak Ridge. This technology is also being considered for the projected Rare Isotope Accelerator.

The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is managed by a consortium of 47 universities in the southeast called the Southeastern Universities Research Association under a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy.

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