Superconducting Super Collider
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| Intersecting Storage Rings | CERN, 1971–1984 |
| Super Proton Synchrotron | CERN, 1981–1984 |
| ISABELLE | BNL, cancelled in 1983 |
| Tevatron | Fermilab, 1987–2009 |
| Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider | BNL, operational since 2000 |
| Superconducting Super Collider | cancelled in 1993 |
| Large Hadron Collider | CERN, 2007–2020s |
| Very Large Hadron Collider | mid-to-late 21st century |
The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) was a ring particle accelerator which was planned to be built in the area around Waxahachie, Texas. It was planned to have a ring circumference of 87 km (54 miles) and an energy of 20 TeV per beam, potentially enough energy to create a Higgs boson, a particle predicted by the Standard Model, but not yet detected. The project's director was Roy Schwitters, a physicist at the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University.
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[edit] Development
The system was first envisioned in the December 1983 National Reference Designs Study, which examined the technical and economic feasibility of a machine with the design capacity of 20 TeV per beam. After an extensive Department of Energy review during the mid 1980s, a site selection process began in 1987. The project was awarded to Texas in November 1988 and major construction began in 1991. Seventeen shafts were sunk and 23.5 km (14.6 miles) of tunnel were bored by late 1993.
[edit] Cancellation
During the design and the first construction stage, a heated debate ensued about the high cost of the project. In 1987, Congress was told the project could be completed for $4.4 billion, but by 1993 the cost projection exceeded $12 billion. An especially recurrent argument was the contrast with NASA's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), which was of similar amount. Critics of the project argued that the US could not afford both of them.
The project was canceled by Congress in 1993. Many factors contributed to the shutdown of the project, although different parties disagree on which contributed the most. They include rising cost estimates, mismanagement by physicists and Department of Energy officials, the end of the need to prove the supremacy of American science with the collapse of the Soviet Union, belief that many smaller scientific experiments of equal merit could be funded for the same cost, Congress's desire to generally reduce spending, and the reluctance of Texas Governor Ann Richards [1] and President Bill Clinton, both Democrats, to support a project begun during the administrations of Richards's Republican predecessor, Bill Clements, and Clinton's Republican predecessors, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. However, in 1993, Clinton attempted to prevent the cancellation by requesting that Congress continue "to support this important and challenging effort" through completion because "abandoning the SSC at this point would signal that the United States is compromising its position of leadership in basic science..." [2]
The closing of the SSC held drastic ramifications for the southern part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and resulted in a mild recession made most evident in those parts of Dallas which lay south of the Trinity River.[3] At the time the project was cancelled, 22.5 km (14 miles) of tunnel and 17 shafts to the surface were already dug and nearly 2 billion dollars had already been spent on the massive facility.[4]
[edit] Current status of site
After the project was canceled, the main site was deeded to Ellis County, Texas and the county tried numerous times to sell the property. The property was finally sold in August of 2006 to [5] an investment group led by the late J.B. Hunt. Collider Data Center has contracted with GVA Cawley to market the site as a Tier III or Tier IV Data Center. The site is currently unoccupied.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? by Leon Lederman, Dick Teresi (ISBN 0-385-31211-3)
- A Hole in Texas by Herman Wouk, Fiction, Little, Brown
- The Dead Collider by Bruce Sterling, F&SF Science column #13 (July, 1994)
- A Tale of Two Cultures: Building the Superconducting Super Collider, 1988-1993 by Michael Riordan. Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 32(1), pp. 125–144 (Fall, 2001)
- The Demise of the Superconducting Super Collider by Michael Riordan. Physics in Perspective, 2(4), pp. 411–425 (December, 2000)
- The Superconducting Super Collider Project: A Summary, in High Energy Physics Advisory Panel's Subpanel on Vision for the Future of High Energy Physics, Sidney D. Drell, Chair. U.S. Department of Energy (May, 2004)
- ^ Alvin W. Trivelpiece (2005). Some Observations on DOE’s Role in Megascience. History of Physics Forum, American Physical Society. Trivelpiece recounts hearing "about a conversation between the Governor of Texas, the Honorable Ann Richards, and President Clinton early in his administration. He asked her if she wanted to fight for the SSC. She said no. That meant it would no longer be an administration imperative...."
- ^ President Bill Clinton (1993). Letter of June 16, 1993 to William H. Natcher, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations. Archived at Fermilab's High Energy Physics Information Center. In part, the text reads "As your Committee considers the Energy and Water Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1994, I want you to know of my continuing support for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC). ... Abandoning the SSC at this point would signal that the United States is compromising its position of leadership in basic science - a position unquestioned for generations. These are tough economic times, yet our Administration supports this project as a part of its broad investment package in science and technology. ... I ask you to support this important and challenging effort."
- ^ Jeffrey Mervis (3 October 2003). "Scientists are long gone, but bitter memories remain". Science 302 (5642): 40-41.
- ^ Jeffrey Mervis and Charles Seife (3 October 2003). "Lots of reasons, but few lessons". Science 302 (5642): 38-40.
- ^ Christine Perez (18 August 2006). "GVA Cawley to market former super collider". Collider Data Center, LLC,
- Rise of Nations by Big Huge Games
