A China-Russia joint research center on superconducting protons has been founded in Hefei, east China's Anhui province recently. The research center, co-built by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research of Russia and Institute of Plasma Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, aims at developing SC 200 - China's first compact superconducting cyclotron for medical application - within three years. SC 200 will be used for accurate treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.

Lyudmila Ogorodova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, said that big scientific and engineering projects, which have undergone rapid development in the 21st century, has become an important criterion for evaluating the scientific and technological level of a country. She said that China and Russia have been attaching great importance to scientific innovations and the two sides have huge potentials in scientific and technological cooperation.

China and Russia have enjoyed more than 30 years of cooperation in the research on nuclear fusion. The success of Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak and Nuclotron-based Heavy Ion Collider Facility will further promote the cooperation between the two countries, according to Kuang Guangli, head of the Institute of Plasma Physics.

The chemotherapy and radiation therapy not only eliminate the cancer cells but also kill a great number of normal cells whereas the high-energy proton therapy and the heavy ion therapy will administer lethal doses of radiation to cancer cells. 

The systems and components related to SC200 is expected to be manufactured by the Institute of Plasma Physics by 2017 and both parties will jointly assemble these systems and components and complete the whole project by 2018.