Artist Hal Empie at 79

Arizona's a finalist in the competition for the Superconducting Super Collider

From a few thousand feet up in a light airplane or helicopter, it will look like a small college campus nestled into the foothills of a low mountain range: a large administration building, a nearby cluster of smaller structures, parking lots, a few service roads, and landscaping that blends into the surrounding desert terrain. An alert eye, though, will notice other groups of modest buildings, spaced every 2.5 miles, moving in line into the distance and plotting a great arc as they march out of sight to encircle the adjacent peaks and rocky ridges. From your moving eagle's-eye vantage, (LEFT) The Sonoran Desert southwest of Phoenix may soon become the designated site for the Superconducting Super Collider. When completed, the underground accelerator will be the world's largest scientific instrument. Total cost of the project is estimated at $4.5 billion to $6 billion.

you discern that the extended arc forms a giant ellipse, 17 miles long, and that 14 miles across the ring from the “main campus” stands another group of buildings, similar in configuration but somewhat smaller than the main complex. And finally the arc swings around to complete its long circuit.

What you are observing from aloft are the surface elements of the largest scientific instrument on earth, the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), as it will appear if built on the Arizona site proposed by the state's leading scientists, politicians, and civic and business leaders. The elliptical location rings the southern range of the Maricopa Mountains, about 35 miles southwest of Phoenix.

The action will be underground. Some 80 feet beneath the surface will lie a concrete-lined tunnel, 10 feet in diameter and extending 53 miles in its elliptical course. Inside, encased in narrow pipes wrapped in supercooled magnets, minute bunches of protons-propelled by the magnets-will race in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light. At intervals along the way, in buildings called collision halls, the magnets will guide the speeding beams into head-on smashups of stupendous force, releasing energy measuring 40 trillion electron volts-20 times that achieved by the Tevatron at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, at present the world's largest atom smasher.

at nearly the speed of light. At intervals along the way, in buildings called collision halls, the magnets will guide the speeding beams into head-on smashups of stupendous force, releasing energy measuring 40 trillion electron volts-20 times that achieved by the Tevatron at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, at present the world's largest atom smasher.

Although the batches of protons are so thin that, each time the beams are aimed at each other, only a relatively few particles will actually collide, still 100 million collisions will occur every second. Physicists monitoring the subatomic debris created by these collisions believe that the Super Collider will help them understand what happened during the biggest high-energy physics event of all time-the “big bang” at the moment the universe came into existence, some 15 billion years ago.

Ever since 1930 when the first particle accelerator, a cyclotron, was built by Ernest O. Lawrence at what is now the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California, particle acceleration has been the vanguard of high-energy physics research. Thus the state that wins the competition for the SSC will become the acknowledged mecca for particle physics researchers worldwide, and that state's stock in the scientific and intellectual community will soar.

"Having the SSC would raise the general level of scientific activity at our universities," says Dr. Peter Carruthers, chairman of the Arizona SSC Task Force's Technical Committee. "And inevitably it will pull along all other fields. High-energy physics is an elegant field that has always attracted some of the finest minds in science. And if you are the best in this field, then the general perception of overall quality goes up, so that even better people come in other disciplines as well. The poets will profit from a more vigorous university." Last September, 25 states formally proposed to the United States Department of Energy 45 different sites for DOE's construction and operation of the SSC. Arizona submitted proposals for two locationsthe Maricopa County site and another encircling the Sierrita Mountains south of Tucson. A select committee appointed by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering was commissioned by DOE to evaluate the proposals and to pare the list to an unranked group of best-qualified sites. In late December, the committee chose eight for its Best Qualified List (BQL). Arizona's Maricopa County site was among them; the other seven were in New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, and Texas. New York has since withdrawn its site from consideration. The Department of Energy expects to announce a preferred site in November or December of this year. If the preferred choice clears the hurdles of further technical studies and a final environmentalimpact review, it will be declared the winner in early 1989. Assuming adequate funding is provided, construction is scheduled to begin later in 1989, with completion targeted for 1995.

Merely to be eligible for DOE consideration, proposed sites had to pass basic qualification screening on things like the proposing state's ability to provide clear title to the 16,000 acres of land required for the SSC; the ability to meet minimum water and power requirements; and the ability to build the SSC without damaging the environment. The survivors of the “first cut” were next judged by a rigorous set of technical criteria. Arizona and the other BQL sites passed this second screening. The selection of the preferred site will largely depend on a number of technical factors and on the site's compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act as evidenced by a thoroughgoing impact study. Arizona's chances appear to be excellent. In certain technical categories, namely geology, geotechnical engineering, and a record of achievement on grand-scale construction projects, Arizona is unsurpassed. And in a catchall category called “regional resources,” encompassing such features as climate, natural beauty, recreational opportunities, culture and the arts, institutions of higher learning and research, transportation, housing, and schools-in short, “quality of life”-Arizona has much to offer, as anyone who lives here will readily attest. The distinctiveness of the Arizona site begins with its geology. For two-thirds of its 53-mile path, the SSC ring would pass through a material called fanglomerate, a composition of cemented sediments resulting from coalescing alluvial fans. Because of its stability, fanglomerate can be excavated safely and rapidly using either of two well-established tunnel construction techniques. The first is cut-and-fill, which involves cutting a trench, laying in preformed tunnel sections, then covering; the second is mechanical tunneling with a tunnel boring machine, or TBM. The remaining third of the SSC ring will burrow through bedrock using TBM methods exclusively. Arizona construction and mining firms lead the field in tunnel construction technology, having refined both cut-and-fill and tunnel boring methods on major projects such as the Papago Freeway drainage tunnels and the Central Arizona Project's 337-mile-long aqueduct from the Colorado River. Tests by geologists, hydrologists, and project engineers show that problems that can delay or stop construction, such as groundwater inflows, collapsing soils, and underground gases, are extremely unlikely at the Arizona site. The dry, stable geologic structure, combined with the Arizona construction industry's specialized experience; an industrial supply and support system that includes concrete and aggregate materials, reinforcing and structural steel, heavy equipment, and machine repair; a skilled and available work force; and the benign climate, all indicate that the SSC can be built in Arizona faster than elsewhere, for less money, and with virtually no uncertainties about construction conditions and weather delays.

Superconducting Super Collider

Although it is difficult to pin down exact numbers for costs and scheduling on a project of the SSC's magnitude, computer models designed by Arizona SSC Project engineers show that construction at the Maricopa site can be completed two years earlier than DOE scheduling models predict, possibly saving as much as a billion dollars. Such savings in time and money suggest for the Arizona site a great advantage over the competition. If construction were delayed for lack of funds, for instance, or if DOE decided to defer construction a year or two while developing the technology for the vital superconducting magnets, only in Arizona could the project still be completed by the target date. Not to be overlooked is the flexibility to solve the unforeseen difficulties bound to plague any huge construction project: technical difficulties, equipment breakdowns, labor-management problems, or even bad weather. The ability to anticipate and contain or adapt to these factors is called risk management. With two years' margin at the Arizona site, DOE can construct a number of “fall-back” risk-management positions for problem-solving. In selecting the Maricopa site for the Best Qualified List, the blue-ribbon panel pointed in particular to the responsive

of the Arizona proposal to environmental questions. Indeed, one of the strongest arguments for bringing the Super Collider to Arizona is that environmental studies thus far indicate that building the Super Collider here will have no negative impact on the environment. No watercourses will be interrupted by construction of the SSC, soil disturbances will be minimal, and there are no known federally listed threatened or endangered species of plants or animals living in SSC's path.

In fact, after prolonged cattle grazing, vehicular traffic, and cactus poaching, the environment at the Arizona site is already degraded. The SSC project thus has a unique opportunity to enhance the natural setting after construction, by salvaging and replanting native plants and by hydroseeding-a revegetation process by which a slurry of mulch mixed with the seeds of native annuals and perennials is sprayed over the landscape. The Arizona site proposal also details plans for creating new riparian habitats with wastewater and runoff.

The question of water use is, of course, Critical in an arid environment. SSC Project hydrologist Steve Brooks reports that nearby sources of groundwater are more than adequate to meet the modest needs of the SSC for the next 175 years. SSC water use will be about the same as for a medium-sized Arizona cotton farm, approximately 4,000 acre-feet a year.

The most obvious general benefit for the state that wins the SSC is economic. DOE has estimated that the Superconduct ing Super Collider will cost more than $4.4 billion to build, with total project costs, including research and development, approaching $6 billion. Construction alone will create 4,000 jobs for a period of at least five years. State firms will receive construction and installation contracts; heavy equipment will be leased locally; cement, steel, and aggregate materials will be purchased from nearby sources; and service contracts for repair and maintenance will be awarded to in-state companies.

Once the SSC is in full swing, operating on an annual budget approaching $300 million, more than 3,000 people will staff the facility-scientists, engineers, technicians, computer programmers, maintenance workers, and support personnel. Add others involved in on-site ancillary efforts-graduate students, for example, and hundreds of visiting scientists and technicians and the SSC site will be humming with activity.

High-tech support industries will settle near the collider to build and maintain its equipment. New technologies in sensing equipment, computers, superconducting materials, and magnets will develop, planting the seeds of new industries.

The boost to the winning state's economy will be enormous. The Division of Business and Economic Research at the University of Arizona estimates that between 1988 and the year 2000-if the SSC comes here-state personal income will increase by $8.4 billion, employment increases will average 12,000 annually, and increases in state and local government revenues will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But the state that walks off with the prize will of necessity offer as much to the scientific community and to the SSC as it stands Here again, Arizona's position is strong. "The thing that will make this project so successful in Arizona," says Dr. Carruthers, "is that the finest minds in the world will want to come here, grow up with their families, develop their careers, make their discoveries in an environment that's pleas-ant, stimulating, and culturally diverse." Scientists in considerable numbers are already drawn to Arizona from all over the world by Kitt Peak National Observatory, the Environmental Research Laboratory, and the Smithsonian National Observatory, all major scientific and research institu-tions. In Tucson, the University of Arizona, one of the "top-20" research universities in the nation, has earned special distinction in astronomy, optical sciences, arid lands studies, lunar and planetary studies, and applied mathematics. And its College of Medicine is internationally acclaimed for cardiac research and surgery and for re-search in cancer and gerontology.

At Arizona State University in Tempe, the sixth largest university in the United States, Outstanding research continues in high-resolution electron microscopy, medium-energy nuclear physics, environmental studies, automated engineering and robotics, solid state science, and energy systems. The UofA has moved to expand its high energy physics program by appointing Carruthers to head the department and by creating 16 new positions to be filled within five years. ASU has similarly committed to upgrading its high-energy physics program by the addition of eight new positions, according to Dr. Richard Jacob, chairman of the Physics Department and deputy chairman of the Arizona SSC Technical Committee. When it comes to "regional resources" or quality of life, it may be the lure of Arizona's most attractive features-its wonderfully diverse natural beauty, recreational opportunities, cultural richness, and economic vibrancy-that will bring the SSC to the state.

Only Arizona can boast 22 units of the National Park Service, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Mission San Xavier del Bac, such fabled Western towns as Tomb-stone, Jerome, Yuma, and Bisbee, and countless other places of historic interest or natural splendor within a half-day's drive or less of the proposed SSC site. Where else can you wander the Sonoran Desert in your shirtsleeves on a sunny winter morning and ski through aspen and pine forests that afternoon? Resident symphony and chamber orchestras perform in Phoenix and Tucson, as well as opera, ballet, and theater companies. The dozens of museums and galleries in the two metropolitan areas include the renowned Heard Museum of Anthropology and Primitive Arts, the Arizona State Museum, several major art collections, and the Center for Creative Photography. Arizona, sixth largest of the United States in area and 25th in population, is growing in number of residents at almost 4 percent annually as high-tech industries, construction, and tourism replace cotton, cattle, copper, and citrus as the foundations of the state's economy. The Superconducting Super Collider fits with Arizona's image as a center for important scientific research and its record of accomplishment on grand-scale projects. With its distinctive physical, environmental, economic, social, and intellectual climate, Arizona is the ideal location for that scientific instrument of the 21st century, the Superconducting Super Collider.

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