§ 43. Mr. Lubbockasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, what decision he has made concerning British participation in the CERN 300 GeV accelerator; and if he will make a statement.
§ 45. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the British decision to withdraw from the proposed CERN high energy acceleration project.
§ 46. Mr. Fortescueasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what were the considerations which led to his decision to cancel British participation in the proposed new CERN nuclear accelerator.
§ 48. Mr. David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science why Her Majesty's Government decided not to support the 300 GeV high energy accelerator project of the European Centre for Nuclear Research; and why 107W Her Majesty's Government rejected the advice from the Science Research Council and from the Council for Scientific Policy that this project should be supported by the United Kingdom.
§ 49. Sir H. Legge-Bourkeasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement of Her Majesty's Government's reasons for declining to participate in the CERN 300 GeV accelerator project; and what steps are now proposed to ensure that the United Kingdom continues to play a leading part in extending the frontier of knowledge in the field of particle physics.
§ 53. Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the statement by the Chairman of the Science Research Council in Geneva on the British withdrawal from the 300 GeV project was made with his authority.
§ Mr. Edward ShortA statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy in regard to participation in the CERN 300 GeV accelerator project was made at the CERN Council meeting last week. I will circulate a copy of this statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
The gist of the statement was that the Government regretfully concluded that with their other commitments the expenditure involved on this very large project would not be justified. In reaching this decision they gave full weight to the views expressed by the Science Research Council and the Council for Scientific Policy, but they had also to take account of wider considerations. United Kingdom nuclear physicists will continue to enjoy the basic CERN facilities and we are participating in the large Intersecting Storage Rings project now under construction. At home the national and university facilities for nuclear structure work as well as for high energy physics will continue to be developed as part of the programme of the Science Research Council.
Statement at CERN Council meeting on 20th June, 1968 by the United Kingdom delegate Professor Flowers
At the Council meeting in December I said that my Government were giving very careful consideration to the question of participation in the 300 GeV project. They had obtained advice from various scientific bodies, which 108W has since been published. My Government were particularly concerned at the effect which participation in this project might have on the balance of resources between high energy physics and other scientific activities and they also had to review the implications of the devaluation of sterling.
My Government have now decided in the light of their other commitments that expenditure involved on this very large project would not be justified. Her Majesty's Government regret this decision because they fully appreciate that the project is well conceived and that strong scientific views have been expressed in its favour. But they are satisfied, after an exhaustive review of the arguments, that they should not enter into this commitment.
In reaching this conclusion my Government have had in mind that through CERN, which they will continue to support, the European high energy nuclear physics community already has an important project in hand in the Intersecting Storage Rings. This will give European physicists a unique instrument which will enable some further advances to be made in the physics of very high energies.