Paris

The sacking of France's research minister, Claude Allègre, a fortnight ago has cast uncertainty over the level of France's promised participation in the construction of the British synchrotron Diamond — and has reawakened hopes that a French machine might also be built.

Government officials in Paris say that France's involvement in the £200 million (US$313 million) Diamond, which is being jointly financed by the British government and the Wellcome Trust, has not been sealed by any formal agreement. The controversial decision to participate was taken by Allègre last year, ending eight years of plans to build a French machine, Soleil (see Nature 400, 489; 1999).

Schwartzenberg: a reprieve for Soleil? Credit: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

France's new science minister, Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg, has not made any official statement about Soleil. But he has promised to study the dossier, together with a recent parliamentary report urging the science ministry to push ahead with the construction of Soleil “without further delay” (see Nature 404, 323; 2000).

Allègre had argued that Soleil would be too expensive to build and that large scientific equipment should be built at the European level. But his decision, which was strongly criticized by France's scientific and political communities, was not sealed by any formal agreement between the two governments and the Wellcome Trust, according to Vincent Courtillot, research director under Allègre.

In principle, Schwartzenberg could reduce France's financial investment in Diamond so as to proceed with the French project — France is unlikely to be able to afford the FF350 million (US$51 million) announced by Allègre for Diamond as well as pay for a new synchrotron on its own soil.

Another option would be for France to find other partners for Soleil. Belgium, Holland and Spain are possible candidates, says Courtillot, who is expected to remain on Schwartzenberg's team.

Senator René Trégouët (RPR, Rhône), an author of the parliamentary report, said last week that France should remain flexible over Diamond so as to have access to some beamlines on the machine, while also being able to move ahead with a French synchrotron.

Trégouët says French researchers will need at least ten beamlines over the next decade, and that the most economic solution would be to rent beamlines on Diamond and build a national machine with a foreign partner.

“The decision [to build] Soleil should be taken very rapidly. We need to construct a machine in France and we need to have an accord, perhaps between England, Germany and France,” says Trégouët.

Schwartzenberg, a professor of law at the University of Paris and a seasoned politician, is relatively unknown to the scientific community, and would gain an immediate political boost by resurrecting Soleil.

“We hope with this new minister that we will have [our own synchrotron] source,” says Bernard Capelle, director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and a member of the tripartite group planning Diamond with the Wellcome Trust and the British government.

“It probably will not be a completely French source, and we might have to reduce our participation in Diamond. But the two machines would be complementary, with the French machine having a lower energy,” Capelle says.

A spokesperson for Britain's Central Laboratory for the Research Councils, which will run Diamond, declined to comment. The issue was believed due to be discussed with French officials this week.