As a research physicist and the dean of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I am dismayed by the Department of Energy's decision to shut down permanently the High Flux Beam Reactor at Brookhaven National Laboratory [see the News of the Week article by David Malakoff (26 Nov., p. [1661][1])]. This research reactor has produced an enormous amount of significant scientific research over its 34-year history and will be sorely missed by the scientific community, as well as by those who have benefited from this research. The reactor has been shut down since January 1997 after the discovery of tritium leaking from the reactor's fuel-storage pool. The Department of Energy and Brookhaven National Laboratory acted responsibly in keeping the reactor closed and informing the community while evaluating the environmental impact of this situation. An environmental impact statement was to be released for public and scientific comment as part of the process of deciding whether to restart the reactor; however, the decision to close the reactor permanently came first. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has said the decision was based on economics. That reasoning, however, does not seem take into account the tens of millions of dollars it will cost to dismantle the reactor—not to mention the cost to this nation's place in science. The United States, led by scientists at Brookhaven, used to be a world leader in neutron scattering research. Using the reactor, U.S. scientists have made pioneering advances in the physics of phase transitions, low-dimensional magnetic systems, and high-temperature superconductors, as well as contributed to the development of a drug that alleviates the pain associated with bone cancer. It is a tragedy that in this important field, which was pioneered in the United States, we are now second- if not third-class citizens compared with Western Europe and Japan. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.286.5445.1661b