Nuclear Structure Facility, Daresbury (Hansard, 2 June 1992)

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for what reason the decision to close the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury was taken without any scientific review.

§ Mr. Robert Jackson
The decision to close the nuclear structure facility was taken by the Science and Engineering Research Council. The council is fully qualified to make such scientific decisions, looking across its programme as a whole.
The council had before it the views of its nuclear physics board which naturally regretted the closure decision but nonetheless reported that keeping the facility in operation beyond 1993 was of lower scientific priority than other claims on the resources available.

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster where the current nuclear physics research carried out at the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury will be carried out once the nuclear structure facility closes.

§ Mr. Robert Jackson
Researchers in this field will have access to a number of facilities in Europe to continue their work, notably those at Mainz and at Legnaro and, in due course, at the Vivitron facility being built at Strasbourg.

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many scientists, physicists and support staff will lose their jobs when the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury closes; and what the redundancy cost of the closure will be.

§ Mr. Robert Jackson
The Science and Engineering Research Council has made clear its commitment to keep compulsory redundancy to the minimum consistent with an orderly run down of the facility. Some redundancies may however prove necessary. The actual number, and costs, will depend on the level of early voluntary retirement, the rate of natural wastage, both at the Daresbury laboratory and elsewhere, and the extent to which retraining and redeployment can be achieved.

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much the Science and Engineering Research Council will save by the closure of the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury.

§ Mr. Robert Jackson
The Science and Engineering Research Council estimates that, after the costs associated with the closure itself have been met, the net saving will be some £5 million a year released for other, higher priority science.

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed closure of the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury on the facility to undertake world-leading nuclear physics research in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Robert Jackson
The impact of a scientific decision such as this is a matter which the research councils are best placed to assess. The Office of Science and Technology will not seek to make a separate judgment.