Barcelona

Hot topic: Spain must decide whether to join in with the planned French synchrotron, Soleil. Credit: LURE

It has only been in existence for a few weeks, but the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology is already facing its first major dilemma. The French government has invited Spain to participate in the funding and operation of France's proposed synchrotron, Soleil — but such a move could dash Spanish scientists' long-held hopes for their own machine.

At a meeting two weeks ago in Santander, Spanish and French science officials set up a working group on scientific issues. In particular, the group will address space policy and large scientific equipment, such as the 10-m Gran Telescopio de Canarias (Grantecan) project and the Soleil synchrotron.

Ramón Marimón, state secretary for science and technology policy, says that Spain will take the invitation to participate in Soleil seriously, and is keen to know where the facility would be built. Some observers argue that Spain is more likely to participate in the project if Soleil is built in a southern region of France near to Spain, rather than near Paris.

Marimón says French officials at the Santander meeting were told that the Ptas14 billion (US$79 million) Grantecan has so far been financed by “national funds only”. It is thought that Spain might seek French funding for the telescope — whose foundation stone was laid on 2 June — in return for any contribution to Soleil.

But Marimón says that the Spanish synchrotron, which the government has so far refused to finance, has not been ruled out. In December 1997, a design study was put forward for a 2.5–3 GeV synchrotron light facility called LLS (Laboratori Llum Sincrotro), to be housed at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Catalonia.

The Catalonian government offered to cover one quarter of the estimated Ptas13 billion cost, if the national government paid a further quarter, and the European Commission the rest. But the former Office of Science and Technology turned this down in January 1998.

Ten months later, the European Science Foundation (ESF) released a report on the needs for a European synchrotron and related beamlines for biological and biomedical research. Among the medium-term needs, the review panel recommended the construction of new sources, including the LLS.

Enric Banda, ESF general secretary, says the LLS is a “very good project” and adds that, to sort out the north–south imbalance, Europe should have a synchrotron in the south. “If there were to be a facility in southern Europe, Barcelona would be a logical place,” he adds.

Andreu Mas-Colell, head of the Catalonian government's Department of Research, says that although the National Plan on Research, Development and Technological Innovation does not rate a synchrotron as a priority, his department sees a need for a big physics installation. “Hence the LLS is a priority,” he says.

Marimón says the Catalonian government's funding formula “seems reasonable”. Much like Mas-Colell, LLS director Joan Bordas believes that the traditional scientific rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona may have blocked the project so far. “I don't mind if the facility is built in another Spanish region,” he says. “But Spain does need a third-generation synchrotron radiation source.”

Grantecan, which the national research plan has prioritized (see Nature 400, 393; 1999), must get 30 per cent of its funding from abroad, but no foreign partner has yet been found.