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British research into the structure of the atomic nucleus faces extinction
if Europe’s new particle accelerator goes ahead. This research already suffered
a setback earlier this year when the closure of the Nuclear Structure Facility
in Cheshire was announced. Now senior scientists have learnt that Britain’s
share of the cost of the new Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European
centre for particle physics in Geneva would leave no money for nuclear structure
physics.

The Science and Engineering Research Council’s Nuclear Physics Board
funds research into both nuclear structure and particle physics. Last week,
particle physicists presented figures to the board which show the cost of
building and exploiting the LHC will rise from nothing this year to a peak
of £14.1 million a year by 1999.

The money comes on top of Britain’s subscription to CERN and, even after
cutting all funding for nuclear structure physics, busts the board’s budget.

John Sharpey-Schafer, a nuclear physicist at the University of Liverpool,
said nuclear structure research needed at least £6 million a year
in order to train scientists for the nuclear industry. This was the amount
recommended in an SERC review of nuclear structure, published in July. ‘Is
the government saying we are going non-nuclear,’ he asked.

Although CERN has promised to build the LHC without increasing subscriptions,
the cost of the machine’s two particle detectors is not included. The figures
presented to the board show that Britain’s share of one detector would cost
£24 million spread over five years. Without a share in the detectors,
Britain’s £52 million annual subscription would be totally wasted.