Jerusalem

A new particle accelerator will replace the 40-year-old research reactor at Israel's Soreq Nuclear Research Center by 2006, the government has announced.

The $24 million facility will be used primarily as a source of neutrons, including cold neutrons, for materials scientists, structural biologists and other researchers, and for the production of isotopes.

Construction of the Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is one of the first projects initiated by Telem, the Israeli National Forum of Research and Development Infrastructure.

Although still under design, SARAF is expected to consist primarily of a 50–70 mega-electron volt particle accelerator that will be able to generate proton beams with an intensity of 1–2 mA. The beam will be directed at a target to produce neutrons, whereas the old reactor produced them directly. The project's management will decide shortly whether the beam will come from a ring or a linear accelerator.

Zvi Kaplan, director of the Soreq centre, hopes to attract visiting research groups from the United States, Europe and Japan for pilot experiments to help Israeli researchers prepare the accelerator for use.