The Contribution of Peripheral Large Scientific Infrastructures to Sustainable Development from a Global and Territorial Perspective: The Case of IFMIF-DONES

Abstract

Large scientific infrastructures are a major focus of progress. They have a big impact on the economic and social development of their surroundings. Departing from these well-known facts, it is not trivial to affirm whether the global contribution to Sustainable Development (SD) is higher when they are built in peripheral and not highly developed provinces instead of capitals and rich areas. Besides the economic impact on depressed areas, other SD-related parameters like the attachment of young and skilled people to their homeland, the avoidance of uncontrolled migrations from rural to dense urban zones, the growth of new focuses of knowledge independent from the lines of research established in the universities of the capitals, the indirect impact of auxiliary infrastructures and others must be analyzed. Concerning the next implementation of the “International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility—Demo Oriented Neutron Source” (IFMIF-DONES) project in Granada (Spain), one depressed and tourism-dependent zone, an analysis and comparison with similar infrastructures were done and presented.