Physics Today, February 2000 page 52

Middle East Synchrotron Project Moves Ahead

Toni Feder

Funding has been found for dismantling Germany's synchrotron light source BESSY I. The pieces will be carefully packed and tracked in preparation for putting the facility back together somewhere in the Middle East (see Physics Today, August 1999, page 54).

Meeting a Christmas Eve deadline imposed by the German government, in December the eleven member countries of SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) each pledged $20 000 toward the synchrotron's orderly dis assembly, documentation, and packing. The US and Sweden also plan to contribute, and Koichiro Matsuura, the new director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is serving as midwife to the project, has kicked in $400 000. The German government can now formally approve the gift, says Herwig Schopper, a former director of CERN, and chair of the SESAME> interim council. "They wanted assurance that people are really engaged in the project."

The immediate financial crunch has been met, but the SESAME participants still need to come up with about $21 million to move, set up, and upgrade the synchrotron. Then, over the next few years, they'll have to find the same amount again to build beamline s and user laboratories. "One step at a time," says Schopper. "I have asked project delegates to work on their governments to redirect some of the funds which have been promised [in aid from other countries] -- for water projects and other things -- to SESAME."

In the meantime, seven governments have formally bid to host SESAME. The seven -- Egypt, Iran, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Turkey, and new members Armenia and Oman -- have proposed a total of 18 sites. "All of the sites would fulfill the technical conditions for the establishment of an international center," says Schopper. "So political and financial considerations will be taken into account."

Delegates from SESAME member countries -- which, in addition to those that have submitted site proposals, include Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and Morocco -- will choose the final site. They've all committed to participate in SESAME's activities regardless of where the facility ends up. A final decision is expected by June.

Toni Feder

Where might SESAME open? Jordan's King Abdullah II (second from right) proposed that his country host SESAME after he and Prince Ghazi ben Mohammad (far right) met last fall with the SESAME interim council chair, Herwig Schopper (left), and UNESCO's Maurizio Iaccarino. (Courtesy of the Jordanian Royal Court.)