[tt] BBC: 'Alice' loss would 'waste £25m'

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'Alice' loss would 'waste £25m'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7324021.stm
[Thanks to Sarah for this.]

By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

A world class science project that has already received £25m of
public funding may be pulled before it has provided any
experimental results.

The Alice project at the Daresbury labs in Cheshire is the first
particle accelerator of its kind in Europe.

Cuts in science funding mean that it may be binned as early as
July, after six years of design and construction.

UK scientists who had planned to use Alice say they may be forced
to do experiments in the US or Russia.

Taxpayers' money was used to build Alice (Accelerators and Lasers
in Combined Experiments) as a machine that would demonstrate
accelerator technologies - but scientists believe it could do much
more; it should be used to run an experimental programme.

"Having spent £25m to build it, it would seem crazy not to operate
it," said Professor Peter Weightman from the University of
Liverpool, who has guaranteed funding to do work that requires a
machine such as Alice.

The machine will cost approximately £3m a year to run.

"If we can't do experiments here, we will have to go to our sister
lab in the States or to a facility in Siberia," added Professor
Wendy Flavell from the University of Manchester, who also hoped to
use the facility.

The future of Alice is currently being considered by the Science
and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which is looking to plug
an £80m deficit in its funding.

UK Science Minister Ian Pearson, who was visiting the Daresbury
laboratory, told BBC News that he was committed to the future of
the laboratories but would not step in to guarantee funding for
individual projects.

"It isn't for government to make decisions on what is the best
science - it is really for the individual scientific communities to
do that," he said.

'Super-scope'

Mr Pearson was at Daresbury to announce £25m of funding for a new
innovation centre to attract hi-tech businesses to the laboratory,
one of just two major national laboratories in the country. Firms
at the centre will be able to take advantage of the expertise and
facilities at the lab.

"We are committed to seeing Daresbury expand in the future and its
future prospects are looking bright," said Mr Pearson announcing
the deal.

Ian Pearson at Daresbury (STFC)

There will be a critical mass of scientists [at Daresbury]
regardless of any decision about whether there is going to be a
large machine located there in the future

Ian Pearson, Science minister

"I have no doubt that we are going to see continued business
investment into this campus and continued strong growth from the
business we already have here today."

There are already 60 firms in the existing innovation centre.
However, many scientists fear that Daresbury will become "just
another business park" without investment in cutting-edge
facilities.

"There are lots of plans for developing the Daresbury site but a
key issue is that you should have a scientific driver," said
Professor Weightman.

One attraction for companies would be Alice, a prototype machine
that allows scientists to probe materials in unprecedented detail.

It is a test bed for technology that will be used in the New Light
Source (NLS), a soon to be launched £150m "super microscope" that
will allow scientists to capture exquisite images of chemical
reactions for the first time.

"Every single building block you would need for a new light source
has been deployed here," said Susan Smith, head of the accelerator
physics group at the labs which oversees Alice.

However, the prototype, which has been in development for six
years, was recently ranked as "low priority" by the STFC in a
review of the UK's scientific facilities.

Projects given this status were most at risk of being cut, said the
science council, which looks after some of the largest science
centres in Britain.

Alice's fate, along with 29 other lower priority science
facilities, will be announced by the STFC on 1 July. The impact
could be particularly hard on the North West, as the eMerlin radio
astronomy network, based on Jodrell Bank, is also low down on the
list.

Wasting away

If it comes out of the review unfavourably it will jeopardise other
planned projects and pour more taxpayers' money down the drain, say
researchers.

Some agencies have already given grants to scientists to exploit
the machine, with some grants running until 2011.

"It's a clear example of a lack of joined-up thinking by the
research councils," said Professor Flavell, who has said she will
have to work abroad if Alice does not get the go ahead.

Other projects, such as a compact particle accelerator known as
Emma, also rely on the machine getting the go ahead. The £8.5m
project aims to build a machine that could be of use in targeted
cancer therapy.

"That's binned if we shut down Alice," said Mrs Smith.

Jodrell Bank
Budget woes may also impact the North West science icon, Jodrell
Bank

Even more seriously, say some scientists, it could spell the
beginning of the end for the national lab.

"The laboratory will close by slow attrition over a number of
years," said Dr Graham Clark, a synchrotron scientist and
representative of the trade union Prospect.

Later this year the lab's main facility - the Synchrotron Radiation
Source - will be closed; and the continued uncertainty surrounding
other projects is having an effect on staffing.

One union official said the laboratory was "haemorrhaging"
expertise built up over 45 years. Cuts mean that the lab will also
lose 150 posts this year.

The solution to these woes, the unions and scientists say, is
funding for Alice or a guarantee that the NLS will be located
there.

"Without [a large facility] here, what is the attractor?" asked Mrs
Smith.

"I think there is a fallacy that you can have a centre of
excellence without the backup and infrastructure related to a large
scale facility."

A decision about where to site NLS is not expected any time soon,
although Mr Pearson told the BBC he would like to see it located at
Daresbury.

However, he said he was convinced that even without a large-scale
project, Daresbury would be successful and would attract businesses
and scientists.

"There will be a critical mass of scientists there regardless of
any decision about whether there is going to be a large machine
located there in the future," Mr Pearson said.