APS News

January 2012 (Volume 21, Number 1)

Mid-East Accelerator Getting Close to Completion

By Michael Lucibella

Opening SESAME - 2008

SESAME BESSY partsCourtesy of SESAME

Parts of the BESSY I 0.8 GeV booster synchrotron when they arrived from Germany to be assembled at the SESAME facility.

SESAME, the long-awaited particle accelerator being built in the Middle East, seems poised to enter its final stages of construction. At SESAME’s recent council meeting in Turkey, two countries have fully signed on to help fill in its budget gap, and two more are expected to contribute soon as well. In addition, the organization reports that construction on the accelerator has been moving forward according to plan, and, provided the necessary funding comes through, it is on track to start up in 2015.

“I’d say the outcome was very good technical progress and encouraging news about funding, but nothing final,” said Sir Chris Llewellyn-Smith of Oxford University, who is president of the SESAME Council.

SESAME is a UNESCO-spearheaded project to build a 2.5 GeV synchrotron light source in Jordan. When completed, it would be the first such particle accelerator in the Middle East. The multinational coalition to build and run the facility is modeled after the governance of CERN and features nations that have historically been rivals, such as Israel and Iran, collaborating on the project. Much of the buildings, tunnels and radiation shielding has been completed, and the first parts of the accelerator have just been installed. The accelerator itself is in part made up of Germany’s decommissioned BESSY1 light source.

“SESAME is on track and the project is very close to reaching an agreement between five countries for 25 of the 35 million needed for completing construction,” said Amy Flatten, APS Director of International Affairs, who attended the council meeting.

Until recently, the consortium had been facing a $35 million deficit in the budget needed to complete the project. However, at this meeting, firm commitments from several nations came through, along with pledges from others that will make up the majority of the needed funds. Israel pledged that it would contribute $1 million per year for five years if four other members contributed funds as well.

“As of the beginning of this meeting, Israel has been joined by Jordan and Iran,” said Herman Winick, a research professor at SLAC and a member of the Executive Committee of the APS Forum on International Physics. He added that Turkey is close to getting its contributions passed by its parliament, and Egypt is also likely to contribute funding. Though only four instead of five countries have made firm pledges, Winick said that “It is expected that Israel is going along with this.”

Funding from Turkey had been delayed after it was found that their membership had never been formally approved by their parliament. A bill authorizing their membership in SESAME has passed through all the relevant parliamentary committees and is awaiting approval from its General Assembly.

Egypt’s contributions have been on hold because of the recent government changeover. The new interim government has expressed interest in supporting the project, and while the SESAME Council was meeting, the country named a new science advisor who will spearhead the process.    

Palestine and Pakistan have also expressed interest in contributing funds, and are currently working out what that contribution will be.

The US and the European Union have supported the project since its inception and will likely contribute the remaining $10 million in funding that member nations haven’t pledged. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), who is himself a physicist and APS member, has been leading the effort urging the US State Department to contribute to SESAME.

Other advances and milestones were reported to have been reached as well. The accelerator’s 22 MeV electron pre-injector has reached full energy and been fully shielded. Work installing the 800 MeV booster synchrotron contributed from Germany is continuing, and plans for the outer storage ring have been finalized. When all funding is secured, the project will be able to start ordering magnets and beam lines.

If the funding from Turkey and Egypt comes through by early next year, as is expected, Winick said that the project is on track to come online with its first four working beam lines by 2015.

“I think there is optimism,” Winick said, adding that despite many delays, the project looks close to being able to move towards the next stages of construction. “SESAME is still hanging in there. We have a site and a building courtesy of Jordan.”

In order to help prepare scientists in the region, APS has teamed up with other national scientific societies to send Middle Eastern physicists to training opportunities around the world.

“APS had started a travel program to fund opportunities for scientists in the Middle East to attend training opportunities, users' conferences, etc.” Flatten said. “The efforts of APS and the other national scientific societies were recognized by several speakers for initiating the program . . . We got a lot of expressions of goodwill.”


SESAME Now Officially Open
APS News article on the opening of SESAME in November 2008

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Editor: Alan Chodos

January 2012 (Volume 21, Number 1)

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Articles in this Issue
APS April Meeting Celebrates Cosmic Rays and More
APS Report Stimulates New BA Programs at Michigan Tech
APS Members Advocate For Science on Capitol Hill
Mid-East Accelerator Getting Close to Completion
New President Ready to Move Forward with Strategic Plan
Middle Tennessee State University Takes on Physics Teacher Preparation
Varied Research Featured at Fluid Dynamics Meeting
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Members in the Media
This Month in Physics History
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