Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), focusing on the: (1) stability of DOE and SSC laboratory project management; (2) uncertainties related to the SSC site geology; (3) uncertainties and risks associated with magnet development and production; and (4) Texas' proposed contribution to the project's costs.
GAO found that: (1) the SSC laboratory and DOE SSC program office experienced management instability due to high turnover in key positions; (2) Texas based its 1987 site proposal on the expectation that DOE would excavate the SSC tunnel through two types of geologic formations, but a change in the tunnel shape and location required excavation through a third type of geologic formation that has a high shrink-swell potential; (3) to better understand the SSC site geology, the SSC laboratory planned to construct a section of the SSC tunnel before beginning full-scale construction; (4) DOE did not build or test full-size dipole magnets for the current SSC design; (5) because DOE changed the magnet design in December 1989, the tooling to build the full-size magnet was not yet available; (6) to reduce magnet risks, the SSC laboratory added 5 months to the scheduled production start for the magnets, but the schedule remained compressed; (7) the magnets' delayed development schedule increased performance risks, since little time will be available to resolve any encountered problems; (8) Texas offered to contribute at least $1 billion and land toward SSC in its September 1987 site proposal; and (9) in September 1990, DOE and Texas agreed that Texas would contribute $875 million toward the $8.2-billion estimated total project cost and use the remaining $125 million for SSC-related activities.
