Pity the planners at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility. After 25 years operating one of the nation’s top experimental accelerators, LAMPF officials fear that their operation may fall victim to the Energy Department’s desire to attract international partners for the superconducting supercollider. Both LAMPF and a similar Canadian meson physics facility in British Columbia want to upgrade their accelerators to the tune of several hundred million dollars—and it appears likely that only the Canadians will get the nod from DOE. Last month, the Canadian science ministry agreed to fund an $11 million feasibility study (with the goal of completing construction by 1993), and the proposal calls for substantial financial support from DOE. Why funnel U.S. dollars into Canadian high-energy physics? It is a ‘good quid pro quo for the Canadians getting in on the SSC,” explains Richard Orr, a Fermilab scientist who is familiar with the project.
Such a...
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