Architects may still design the Brno synchrotron this year

Visualization of CESLAB (TIPRO project)

Brno - Architects should soon design the Central European Synchrotron Laboratory (CESLAB). The Czech Academy of Sciences, which intends to build the facility in Brno with European funds, has announced a tender for complete project documentation. The content of the contract includes the preparation of studies, documentation for zoning permits and building permits, selecting a construction company, and also conducting author supervision. The Academy will pay for the studies from its own funds for now. It wants to be prepared for the moment when a program allowing for obtaining European grants will be opened, said Michal Šedivý, the manager for science and research at the Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
    The so-called synchrotron should be built on the site of a former military airfield in the Černovice district. It is expected to be operational by 2015, as reported by ČTK based on a notice published on the website of the South Moravian Regional Office. The research center is expected to employ about 180 people. The facility would be used by around 1000 scientists, the document states.
    The core of the CESLAB complex is to be a synchrotron. It contains a closed circular vacuum tube in which electrons move at high speed. This generates intense light useful for research on very small scales. Scientists could thus gain new insights into the properties of matter at the molecular and atomic levels during experiments. As a result, new drugs could be developed, for example.
    According to the study, synchrotrons are usually built for a catchment area of 300 kilometers. There are 18 in the European Union, none in the eastern part of the EU. The nearest are in Germany and Italy.
    CESLAB is one of the ambitious projects with which Brno scientists want to compete for European funding. The plan competes with the upcoming Central European Technology Institute (CEITEC), which universities plan to build in Brno. The authors of both projects will seek grants from the same program, and according to some experts, it is unlikely that both will succeed. The costs for each project amount to billions of crowns. "Otherwise, the projects complement each other very well, and if both are supported, it will mean an extraordinary success for Brno,” said Šedivý.