stephenbrooks.orgForumMuon1GeneralOxfordshire is a busy place
Username: Password:
Search site:
Subscribe to thread via RSS
[TA]JonB
2007-10-05 14:12:11
I was reading about the Diamond synchrotron and wondered where it actually was in England.  Then I got curious about how close your RAL facilities were.  Looks like the same place, practically. 

Driving (directions to Diamond)

From the A34 (northbound)
Approximately 8 miles on from the A34 junction with the M4 at Newbury, take the A4185 (A417) exit, signposted for [b]Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)[/b] and Wantage.  Turn left onto the A4185 and then turn left at the roundabout approximately half a mile from the exit. 

Go straight across the 2 mini roundabouts and continue down Fermi Avenue until you see the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory main gate on the left, which is the main entrance for Diamond visitors.

Does the Diamond Synchrotron pay for itself yet, or is it still heavily subsidised??

JonB
Stephen Brooks
2007-10-05 22:33:20
Yes, I have to drive around its silver doughnut-shaped building on my way to the car park every morning.  It's quite annoying because on one occasion when my pass needed renewing, I had to walk all the way back around it to get to the main RAL gate (took like 10 minutes); there being no staffed gate on the other side, and no way to walk *between* RAL and Diamond.  In fact it radically altered the view from the RAL canteen because Diamond fills most of the panorama from there.

The logic was that ISIS, an existing accelerator on the RAL site was also used for materials analysis using neutrons, so the X-rays from Diamond would be complementary and the material scientists could put their samples on both.  They've even built a small hotel for visiting scientists to the site now.

Diamond doesn't pay for itself yet as I don't think it's really been turned on.  Or maybe it only very recently has.  I certainly don't think all the "beamlines" (science stations where the X-rays come out of the ring) are built yet.
: contact : - - -
E-mail: sbstrudel characterstephenbrooks.orgTwitter: stephenjbrooksMastodon: strudel charactersjbstrudel charactermstdn.io RSS feed

Site has had 25165237 accesses.