piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) (11/15/85)
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 1985 3:48 PM EDT Msg: SGIF-2078-4084
From: RPARK
To: WHATSNEW
CC: RPARK
Subj: What's New
WHAT'S NEW, Friday, September 27, 1985 Washington, D.C.
1. THE SUPERCONDUCTING SUPER COLLIDER DESIGN passed a major
milestone with the selection of the magnet type. According
to Maury Tigner, who heads the SSC Central Design Group, it
is now possible to get on with the overall design of the SSC.
An advisory committee came down in favor of a conductor
dominated superconducting magnet type that relies on the
arrangement of the superconducting wires to produce a uniform
magnetic field, in contrast to the competing superferric
magnet type that would rely in part on the shape of iron pole
pieces for uniformity. Veteran science watchers on the Hill,
however, consider it highly unlikely that the Super Collider
will be built during the next decade. They point out that
other high priority facilities, such as the 4-GeV Continuous
Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, are in deep trouble
although they would cost only a fraction of the $4 billion
projected for the SSC.
2. CONGRESS HAS FAILED TO PASS AN FY 86 BUDGET although the
current fiscal year ends in four days. It might seem that a
budget freeze, which is the basic outline of the FY 86
budget, would be a simple matter. But at least initially, it
appears that the federal government will again be forced to
operate on a continuing resolution.
3. THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REFORM ACT (S. 774), the most
recent Administration backed effort to abridge the FOIA, is
pending before the Senate. Technical data that may not be
exported lawfully is included among the new exemptions
contained in the bill. On the House side, however, the
Freedom of Information Public Improvements Act of 1985 sets
an agenda for strengthening the Freedom of Information Act by
narrowing the exemptions and establishing penalties for delay
in FOIA compliance.
4. BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES are discussed in a
report just released by the Congressional Office of
Technology Assessment. The report, which attempts to
clarify the issues rather than to resolve the debate over
SDI, has generally been interpreted as critical of
Administration proposals. General Daniel Graham, head of
High Frontier, resigned from the study's advisory board
contending it was stacked with opponents of the program.
The 12-member Congressional Board that oversees OTA, headed
by Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), reportedly decided to
release the study by a narrow 7-5 margin.
Robert L. Park
American Physical Society THAT'S ALL 9/27/85