Talk:Diamond Light Source

I have some recolation that the French Government (or one of their agencies) was also involved in funding Diamond - and that they supported the Welcome Trust in siting it at RAL rather than Darsbury. Is this correct? If so could we add something about it? Andreww 08:02, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Formally the final location of Dimaond was chosen due to the synergy with other facilities (ISIS, CLF, Culham etc). There are many rumours on this topic (e.g. The French wanted X, W.T. wanted Y), and if any are true then there is no evidence of this (in the public domain). In other words the French involvement in the final location is nothing more than rumour...and this sis something strenouously denied by those involved at the time.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.246.132.26 (talk) 09:37, 15 August 2007

Not a volt!!

3GeV is not three thousand million volts Lipatden 14:18, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

well it is really as its an electron accelerator and 1eV is the energy required to accelerate an electron through a potential of 1 volt

What was bigger 30 years ago?

I often heard that Diamond is the biggest UK experiment for 30 years. What was it that was built 30 years ago?

SteveTraylen 09:44, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

In fact Diamond is the largest project for almost 40 years, since the then Nimrod project at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Nimrod being the forerunner of the ISIS neutron Spalation Facility. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.246.132.26 (talk) 13:05, 14 December 2006

Synchrotron building

Diamond is housed in a silver toroidal building which covers approximately the area of 5 football pitches.

Marked for clarification because

• the area of a football pitch can vary by a factor of almost 3, and is also unfamiliar to those (like me) who have never attended a football match (or to American readers, a soccer match). I think the area should be given in standard units like hectares, acres or square kilometres.
• the next sentence says the building houses the storage ring and the beamlines, but there's no mention of the linear accelerator or the booster synchrotron. Where are they housed?

Musiconeologist (talk) 19:41, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

File:DiamondSynchrotron.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

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why is this article advertising for The Costain Ltd.

″Costain Ltd constructed the building and the synchrotron hall. Significant construction achievements to note:

i) The project was completed on time and on budget;

ii) The construction of Diamond was completed with one of the lowest accident rates of a mega project completed in the UK. Over 1.3 million manhours were completed during the peak of construction without a single accident."

This adds very little to the information on Diamond itself and sounds like it was written by someone doing PR work for Costain Ltd. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.168.63.51 (talk) 23:57, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

Agreed. Edited accordingly. Feline Hymnic (talk) 23:07, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

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Formatting of references

At present the website citations are all in different formats. Also I don't think the Notes and References sections need to be separate. Musiconeologist (talk) 18:46, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

I've converted the one note to an ordinary reference, and removed the Notes section. (Really that note should be body text anyway, with its own citation.) Musiconeologist (talk) 19:12, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Re: Old discussion on French influence for Diamond location

I was looking through this talk page and saw a discussion from way back prior to DLS build where someone asked if the French Government was involved on the location of Diamond at RAL instead of Daresbury. At the time it was dismissed as just a rumour with no evidencebut I read a twitter thread about this a few years ago, and I went to fish it.

It seems it took nearly 20 years but documents released recently from the National Archives actually confirm this. Scientist-historian Prof Jon Agar analyzed the file (PREM 49/166) and it shows there was direct pressure regarding the French partners that went all the way up to prime minister Tony Blair which forced the decision, so the "rumour" was actually spot on. I’ve also googled the Hansard records from 2000 where they discuss the Wellcome Trust and foreign partnerships which confirms this. I reckon it's worth updating the history section of the main page one day since we know it wasn't just about scientific synergy but politics too. I have a COI so I will stay out for now.

References:

1. Jon Agar (UCL) analysis of National Archives file PREM 49/166: https://twitter.com/jon_agar/status/1592128366454665217
2. Hansard, House of Commons (Westminster Hall Debate, 29 March 2000): Wellcome Trust and French positions are discussed. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2000-03-29
3. House of Commons Science and Technology Committee: Evidence from Dr Michael Dexter (Wellcome Trust). https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmsctech/257/25704.htm
4. National Archives (UK) Prime Minister’s Office Files: File PREM 49/166 contains an handwritten note by then prime minister Tony Blair. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/prime-ministers-office-records/
5. DTI Press Notice P/2000/142 (13 March 2000): “New Light Source to go ahead at Rutherford Appleton – package for North West science” (Lord Sainsbury).

David Aragao (talk) 01:55, 7 December 2025 (UTC)