accelerators used in basic physics research. Striking examples include computer-assisted tomography (CAT), positron emission tomography (PET), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

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The SSC will be the world's preeminent facility for high energy physics research into the next century. The SSC is a proton-proton collider with an energy of 20 TeV per beam whose principal feature is two rings of approximately 10,000 superconducting magnets located in an underground tunnel 54 miles in circumference. The two rings of magnets will steer and focus the proton beams in opposite directions until they are made to collide at the various interaction regions where large detectors record the events for analysis by physicists. The SSC will permit scientists to explore this new trillion electron volt domain of physics which cannot be reached by any other facility either in existence or planned.

The SSC is a critical part of the Administration's initiative to strengthen the position of the Nation as a world leader in science and technology. It will be a symbol of the Nation's commitment to scientific leadership in this century and the next. We can be confident that the SSC will yield exciting discoveries and technological innovations that will likely affect major industrial and technological directions in the twenty-first century.

This past year has been one of significant achievement. In January 1989, the Department announced the selection of the site for the SSC in Ellis County, Texas, and the selection of Universities Research Association, Inc., as the management and operating contractor to establish the SSC Laboratory and to

design, construct and operate the SSC. An interim laboratory facility has been set up in leased space in DeSoto, Texas, near the Ellis County site. Laboratory currently has approximately 500 people on board.

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The

Also during the year, the SSC Laboratory developed and presented to the Department a preliminary, site-specific design for the SSC along with a revised cost estimate and schedule. Design changes proposed by the Laboratory include increasing injection energy into the collider from 1 TeV to 2 TeV, increasing the inner diameter of the superconducting dipole magnet coils from 4 centimeters to 5 centimeters, increasing the circumference of the ring by about one mile to accommodate stronger beam focusing, and providing larger detector halls. These changes result from additional technical information that has recently become available. Results of the Tevatron collider operations, supercomputer simulations of SSC-like proton orbits, and experience with magnets at the HERA facility in West Germany indicate that these changes are necessary. These changes will ensure that the SSC will operate reliably at the design parameters of energy and collision rate with a minimum of commissioning time.

These design changes and updated cost estimates could raise the cost of the SSC to about $8 billion. The Department is concerned about the cost rising above the previous $5.9 billion estimate and is committed to keeping the cost as low as possible. However, we want to be certain that the facility we build will meet the physics goals of the SSC and will operate productively soon after completion of construction. The Secretary has indicated that the Department supports the technical conclusions of a recent High Energy Physics

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Panel study that strongly reaffirmed that 20 TeV is the appropriate energy for the SSC. The Secretary also supports the proposed technical design changes. However, during the coming months, we will carefully review the new design and cost estimate and will develop a validated technical, cost, and schedule baseline for the SSC. This review, which will be carried out with assistance from outside technical consultants and the Department's Independent Cost Estimating Group, should be completed by about August 1990.

As the Committee is aware, the State of Texas has made a commitment to contribute approximately $1 billion towards the construction of the project. We have had a series of discussions with the State's representatives and we expect to reach agreement with them in 1990 on the scope and pattern of their contribution. We have recently announced the so-called "footprint" for the facility. This enables Texas to identify the specific parcels of land required so that preparations for land acquisition can begin, and so that onsite activities needed to complete the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement can be conducted. The SSC Laboratory has awarded a contract to the Lockheed Company to provide systems engineering and integration support. The Laboratory has also selected for contract negotiation an ArchitectEngineer/Construction Management contractor to design and supervise construction of conventional facilities. In the near future, an industrial contractor will be selected competitively by the Laboratory to participate in finalizing the design of the superconducting collider dipole magnets, to develop a cost-effective and reliable manufacturing process, to fabricate prototype magnets and to demonstrate the production process by fabricating a significant number of magnets using final production tooling.

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The major focus of the ongoing research and development program continues to be the superconducting dipole magnets. The R&D program conducted over the past few years on the original magnet design accomplished its objective of developing a main line magnet configuration which provided the basis for proceeding with engineering development and with establishment of the manufacturing process. The emphasis of the program will now shift to developing a design for the revised magnet specifications recently proposed by the Laboratory which call for increasing the inner diameter of the superconducting coil from 4 centimeters to 5 centimeters and reducing the length of most of the magnets from 17 meters to 15 meters. We expect to have the first short model (1 meter) of a new design magnet tested late in 1990 and the first full length (15 meter) magnet completed in 1991.

Another important activity during the last year was the preparation of a plan for seeking international contributions. The plan was developed in cooperation with the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Security Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Commerce and State Departments, as well as with other appropriate agencies within the Executive Branch. The plan sets out our international objectives, the policy and regulatory framework in which we will conduct the international negotiations, and the strategy for establishing appropriate international agreements. Our proposed strategy builds upon the experience of the U.S. High Energy Physics program in international cooperation and the experiences of other major research laboratories in Europe and Japan. We recognize the need to apprise Congress of our international cost-sharing strategy but have postponed doing so pending our review of the

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preliminary site-specific design and cost estimates. We have begun briefing Congress on the International Plan. We also recognize the need to notify Congress prior to entering into any final agreements on foreign contributions.

Foreign interest in the SSC was evident at an International Conference on Supercollider Physics and Experiments hosted by the SSC Laboratory in early October. About 20 percent of the approximately 600 participants were from overseas, thereby reflecting the considerable worldwide interest in the program. The SSC Laboratory has also organized several advisory committees, which include foreign scientists, to seek the best scientific advice in order to optimize the machine's design, and to conduct the most appropriate experimental research program consistent with available resources.

FY 1991 BUDGET REQUEST FOR SUPERCONDUCTING SUPER COLLIDER

The FY 1991 budget request for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) is $317.9 million. That request includes $116.0 million for Operating Expenses, including $5.7 million for Program Direction; $33.0 million for Capital Equipment; and $168.9 million for Construction. (Table 4).

The Operating Expenses request of $116.0 million provides for an enhanced level of R&D for the superconducting magnets and to support the transition to industrial fabrication of pre-production magnets which is planned for FY 1992. The request will allow substantial work on the conceptual design of other collider systems, including the focusing and correction magnets, cryogenics