SESAME participants put politics aside to fund synchrotron

Nature : Israel and Iran have put aside their differences to join Jordan and Turkey in providing a combined total of US$20 million for the construction of the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME). The project, located in Al Balq’a, Jordan, needs an additional $15 million from other partner nations to complete its first four beamlines in 2015. SESAME has managed to succeed despite political upheaval—including the assassination of two members of its Iranian delegation. Now that local partners have committed funding, outsiders such as the US and the EU will be more likely to provide some support as well. SESAME’s total cost will be around $110 million. When complete, the facility will be the Middle East’s only source of high-intensity synchrotron x rays.