Masatoshi Koshiba, the astrophysicist who won the 2002 Nobel Prize, said Wednesday he has urged a government panel to reconsider its recommendation not to fund an advanced physics research facility.
The facility is facing the possibility of major delays, which could leave Japan lagging behind U.S. and European rivals.
Koshiba has clashed with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Council for Science and Technology Policy over the cost of the state-of-the-art, 200 billion yen facility since it got the panel's lowest priority ranking for government spending in 2004.