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Physical Sciences - KAON [1992]
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
2005-0336-F
2005-0336-F
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Science and Technology Policy, Office of (OSTP)
Series:
Bromley, D. Allan, Files
Subseries:
General Science Files
OA/ID Number:
62044
Folder ID Number:
62044-011
Folder Title:
Physical Sciences - KAON [1992]
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THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 29, 1992
NOTE FOR D. ALLEN BROMLEY
FROM: ROBERT B. ZOELLICK RB)
I received your memo to the Chief of Staff
regarding a possible call to the President from
Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney to discuss
U.S. support for the Canadian KAON project
construction. My office will forward your memo
to Mr. Baker, who is traveling with the
President through the election.
I note that you recommend the State Department
initiate discussions with the Canadians on this
issue. Could you please work with the NSC to
determine what the State Department's position
is on the course of action you recommend?
Thanks very much.
CC: General Scowcroft
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 29, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR JAMES A. BAKER, III
FROM:
D. ALLAN BROMLEY Man
SUBJECT:
POSSIBLE TELEPHONE CALL FROM PRIME MINISTER
MULRONEY OF CANADA TO THE PRESIDENT
My sources in Canada tell me that there is a reasonable probability that Mr. Mulroney
will place a call to the President within the next few days concerning U.S. support for
the Canadian KAON project construction.
I am enclosing a copy of my earlier memorandum to you, dated October 5, concerning
this matter since it provides all the necessary background.
You should also know that Secretary Watkins has responded, on behalf of the
Department of Energy, to Canadian Minister of Science and Technology, William
Winegard, and British Columbia Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations, Glen
Clark, indicating that DOE will be unable to provide the originally discussed $75 million
over the next five years. I am enclosing herewith a copy of the contents of the Watkins'
response as reported in cable traffic. It is consistent with the expectation expressed in
my earlier memo.
My recommendation remains as before -- that you request the State Department to
initiate discussions with the Canadians to arrange a U.S. contribution to the KAON
construction and a Canadian one to our SSC construction in Texas. I remain convinced
that this is a win-win position and that unless we take some such action we will lose
vastly more good will than the actual amounts of funding involved would justify.
Enclosures
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 5, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR JAMES A. BAKER III
FROM:
D. ALLAN BROMLEY Allan
SUBJECT:
THE SSC AND A CANADIAN PROJECT, KAON
I understand that Kim Campbell, Canadian Minister of Justice and the member of the
Canadian Cabinet with special responsibility for the Province of British Columbia, will
contact either DOS or you to request that the U.S. join Canada in constructing a major
research facility, KAON, in British Columbia. This will be a world class facility for
particle and nuclear physics with unique capabilities on the high-intensity frontier.
o
Canada proposes to build and operate KAON, but requires that 1/3 of the
approximately $1 billion (Canadian) construction cost be provided by non-
Canadian sources. Canada will assume responsibility for operating costs and the
2/3 of the construction costs are to be divided equally between the federal
government and the Province of British Columbia.
o
This facility has been under consideration for several years and an equivalent
facility was proposed several years ago for construction at the Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory. The strength of both was the ability to study very rare
and correspondingly important fundamental interactions in particle and nuclear
physics.
o
DOE and NSF requested input from a panel of experts in 1989. It recommended
that we not build the U.S. machine but rather support the Canadian construction
with a total of $75 million over a 5 year construction period. The panel
considered this a very cost effective approach since it was known that Canada
would pay all operating costs while some 33% of the scientific users would be
American. The construction cost for the competing Los Alamos facility was
proposed originally as about $750 million. Clearly only one such facility is
required in North America.
0
DOE has been negotiating with Canada, in parallel with KAON discussions, to
obtain a Canadian commitment to contribute to the construction of SSC and an
MOU has been signed by DOE and the Canadian Commercial Corporation to
facilitate this. These negotiations are still in progress and no definite figures
have been discussed although there is clear interest in the Canadian particle
physics community in having Canada participate.
0
In November of 1990 at the invitation of the Speaker of the Canadian House of
Commons, John Fraser, I visited Ottawa and had discussions with the Deputy
Prime Minister and several Cabinet members including Kim Campbell. Having
checked with DOE (Jim Decker, Acting Director OER) in advance I indicated to
the Canadians that if they decided to move forward with KAON, DOE expected
to respond to the advice of its advisory committee and provide $75 million over
5 years toward the construction.
o
Subsequently Henson Moore, while Deputy Secretary of Energy. also visited
Ottawa and made similar statements to senior Canadian officials.
o
After substantial delay the Canadian federal government and the provincial
government have recently announced their joint intention to proceed with the
KAON project -- with the proviso, similar to that for our SSC project, that one
third of the total cost be borne by non-governmental funds.
0
Because DOE's appropriations are almost certainly going to be less than the
President requested in FY '93 and, because, in addition, political pressures have
forced DOE to include a new injector for the Fermilabs accelerator -- which they
did not want -- in their program, senior DOE officials now takes the position that
they simply do not have the $15 million dollars per year, over the next 5 years, to
devote to KAON construction.
0
If there is no U.S. contribution to this construction other contenders for funding
in Canada will probably kill the KAON project claiming that the U.S. backed
away from its earlier commitment and thus is to blame for the project failure.
0
Because such action could poison U.S./Canadian relations I would recommend a
symmetrical arrangement whereby Canada contributes to the SSC and we
contribute to KAON. This seems to me to have a win-win potential.
0
Canada -- and OSTP -- view the KAON issue as a government-to-government one
that would require State Department involvement. Secretary Watkins has stated
that he views it as a White House rather than DOE matter. Both DOE and NSF
support research in the relevant areas but neither has funds available in existing
programs to provide the $75 million in question.
o
U.S. scientists have given KAON science high priority as excellent science
providing U.S. scientists with access to a unique, high intensity, hadron facility.
The formal Nuclear Science Advisory Committee recommended the project in
1989 and reaffirmed that recommendation this year. It is clear however that
neither DOE nor NSF can provide the necessary funding from their research
budgets.
RECOMMENDATION:
I would suggest that you respond to Minister Campbell with an indication of U.S.
interest and that you request State to initiate discussions with the Canadians to achieve
the above mentioned symmetric arrangement.
26 92 06:48PM AMERICAN EMBASSY TOKYO DOE/NSF
P.2/4
UNCLASSIFIED STATE 343339
(14) ACTION: SCI 3 AMB DCM POL POLA EMIN ECON FCS NSF DAO DOE USIS
PM
VZCZCTR0991TK0194
PP RUEHKO
DE RUEEC #9389 2988755
25-00T-92 TOR: 21:17
ZNR UUUUU ZZE
CHRG: PROG
P 2407552 OCT 92
DIST: SCI
PM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHVC/AMCONSUL VANCOUVER PRICEITY 3232
INFO RUFHOL/AMEMBASSI BONN PRIORITY 4323
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORTY 9932
RUEHGA/AMCONSUL CALGARY PRIORITY 0359
RUEHEA/AMCONSUL HALIFAX PRIORITY 5384
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL PRIORITY 5833
RUEEQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 4955
RUEEKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORTY 3623
RUEEON/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 4821
BT
UNCLAS STATE 348339
PLEASE PASS TO SCICOUN
E.O. 12355: N/A
TAGS: TSFA,
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE or USG CONTRIBUTION TO KLON
(
REF: 1) VANCOUVER 1512 B) OTTAWA 5242 5) OTTAWA 5977
1. FOLLOWING IS TEE TEXT OF LETTERS DATED SEFTEMBER 28.
(
1992, FROM SECRETARY OF ENERGY JAMES D. WATKINS THAT
WERE SENT TO THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE WILLIAM C. WIVEGARD
OF CANADA, AND TO MINISTER OF FINANCE AND CORPORATE
RELATIONS GLEN CLARK OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
2. BEGIN TEXT:
DEAR MR. MINISTER:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR LETTER OF JULY 10. 1992, IN WEICE YOU
SEEK AN INDICATION OF UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROPOSED KAON FACTORY.
DR. WILLIAM HAPPER, DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF ENERGY
RESEARCE. MET WITH A CANADIAN DELEGATION LED BY MR.
STANLEY EAGEN ON AUGUST 17. 1992. HE EXPLAINED THE
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FUNDI 22 CONSTRAINTS, THE STATUS OF
OUR NUCLEAR PHYSICS FROGRAM. AND OUR POSITION WITH
REGARD TO PARTICIPATION IN TEE CONSTRUCTION OF THE KAON
FACTORY.
SINCE YOUR GOVERNMENT BEGAN DISCUSSIONS WITE THE
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ON THE SUBJECT OF THE SAON PROJECT.
OUR FISCAL SITUATION HAS CHANGED. WE ARE CONTINUING THE
THE CONSTRUCTION OF TWO MAJOR FACILITIES. THE
RELATIVISTIC HEAVY ON COLLIDER AND THE CONTINUOUS
UNCLASSITIED STATE 343399
OCT 25 '92 06:49PM AMERICAN EMBASSY TOKYO DOE/NSF
P.3/4
UNCLASSIFIED STATE 343339
ELECTRON BEAM ACCELERATOR FACILITY, IV TEE FACE or
DECLINING BUDGETS. THIS IS FORGING THE EARLY PHASEOUT
Э
OF SOME OF OUR OWN FACILITIES AND LIMITS our ABILITY TO
EXPAND OUR PROGRAM. VP ARE, TEEREFORE, UNABLE TO MAKE
ANY COMMITMENT TO CONSTRUCTION OF THE RAON PROJECT AT
TEIS TIME. NEVERTHELESS, I WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU
SUCCESS IN YOUR CONTINUING EFFORTS TO BUILD TEIS
VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC FACILITY.
SINCERELY
I
JAMES D. WATKINS
I
ADMIRAL, U.S. NAVY (RETIRED)
-
3
END TEXT.
3. P EASE ADVISE IF FURTHER GUIDLINES IS REQUIRED.
,
KANTER
BT
#8389
3
NNNN
UNCLASSIFIED STATE 343339
3
7
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
July 22, 1992
Gentlemen:
I was most heartened by the news in your letter of July 10 that Canada is prepared to
move forward with the construction of the KAON facility in Vancouver.
I have forwarded your request for a formal financial commitment to Admiral James
Watkins, Secretary of Energy, for his response. I hope that the international science
community and Canada will make this exciting project a reality.
Sincerely yours,
Drawn D. Allan Bromley
The Assistant to the President
for
Science and Technology
cc: Admiral James D. Watkins
The Honorable William C. Winegard
Minister for Science
Government of Canada
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0H5
The Honorable Glen Clark
Minister of Finance and Corporate
Relations
Government of British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia V8V 1X4
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
July 22, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARY JAMES D. WATKINS
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
COPY TO: W. HENSON MOORE
DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE PRESIDENT
FROM:
D. ALLAN BROMLEY Man
THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SUBJ:
CANADIAN KAON PROJECT
As you know, Canada has been considering building a large accelerator (KAON) in British
Columbia. The Canadians now have decided to proceed with this project and are
requesting financial commitments from prospective foreign partners, including the United
States. I am forwarding their letter of request to you for your response.
The U.S. Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) was charged in 1989 by DOE and
NSF to advise on the possibility of U.S. participation in KAON. An NSAC Subcommittee
chaired by Professor Herman Feshbach of MIT concluded that the requested investment of
$75 million, spread over five years, would be very cost-effective for the U.S. and that the
accelerator would "make a broad range of phenomena of fundamental importance accessible
to experimental study." The Subcommittee noted additional cost savings in that the U.S.
would not be expected to share operating expenses for the facility and that by participating
in the Canadian project, we would have access to a facility comparable to one that had been
proposed in the U.S. at a cost of approximately $560 million.
I consulted with Henson Moore, then Deputy Secretary of DOE, prior to my trip to Canada
in October of 1990, and on the basis of this very strong recommendation from the scientific
community, we agreed that we should confirm our earlier, less formal, intention to commit
$75 million to the project construction over a five-year period. I accordingly provided this
indication to a number of senior members of the Canadian Cabinet with whom I met at
that time.
The Canadians now seek a formal commitment from us. The scientific justification and the
cost-effectiveness of the partnership from the U.S. perspective remain as persuasive now as
they were two years ago; this has been reiterated by NSAC in its recent reports. I therefore
hope that you will respond to the Canadian inquiry by affirming our previous commitments.
Such an investment will represent an effective and important part of U.S. participation in
international science and will provide access for American scientists to the high intensity
frontiers of modern nuclear and particle physics in an unusually cost-effective way.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 5, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR JAMES A. BAKER III
FROM:
D. ALLAN BROMLEY Allan
SUBJECT:
THE SSC AND A CANADIAN PROJECT, KAON
I understand that Kim Campbell, Canadian Minister of Justice and the member of the
Canadian Cabinet with special responsibility for the Province of British Columbia, will
contact either DOS or you to request that the U.S. join Canada in constructing a major
research facility, KAON, in British Columbia. This will be a world class facility for
particle and nuclear physics with unique capabilities on the high-intensity frontier.
0
Canada proposes to build and operate KAON, but requires that 1/3 of the
approximately $1 billion (Canadian) construction cost be provided by non-
Canadian sources. Canada will assume responsibility for operating costs and the
2/3 of the construction costs are to be divided equally between the federal
government and the Province of British Columbia.
o
This facility has been under consideration for several years and an equivalent
facility was proposed several years ago for construction at the Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory. The strength of both was the ability to study very rare
and correspondingly important fundamental interactions in particle and nuclear
physics.
o
DOE and NSF requested input from a panel of experts in 1989. It recommended
that we not build the U.S. machine but rather support the Canadian construction
with a total of $75 million over a 5 year construction period. The panel
considered this a very cost effective approach since it was known that Canada
would pay all operating costs while some 33% of the scientific users would be
American. The construction cost for the competing Los Alamos facility was
proposed originally as about $750 million. Clearly only one such facility is
required in North America.
0
DOE has been negotiating with Canada, in parallel with KAON discussions, to
obtain a Canadian commitment to contribute to the construction of SSC and an
MOU has been signed by DOE and the Canadian Commercial Corporation to
facilitate this. These negotiations are still in progress and no definite figures
have been discussed although there is clear interest in the Canadian particle
physics community in having Canada participate.
0
In November of 1990 at the invitation of the Speaker of the Canadian House of
Commons, John Fraser, I visited Ottawa and had discussions with the Deputy
Prime Minister and several Cabinet members including Kim Campbell. Having
checked with DOE (Jim Decker, Acting Director OER) in advance I indicated to
the Canadians that if they decided to move forward with KAON, DOE expected
to respond to the advice of its advisory committee and provide $75 million over
5 years toward the construction.
0
Subsequently Henson Moore, while Deputy Secretary of Energy, also visited
Ottawa and made similar statements to senior Canadian officials.
o
After substantial delay the Canadian federal government and the provincial
government have recently announced their joint intention to proceed with the
KAON project -- with the proviso, similar to that for our SSC project, that one
third of the total cost be borne by non-governmental funds.
o
Because DOE's appropriations are almost certainly going to be less than the
President requested in FY '93 and, because, in addition, political pressures have
forced DOE to include a new injector for the Fermilabs accelerator which they
did not want - in their program, senior DOE officials now takes the position that
they simply do not have the $15 million dollars per year, over the next 5 years, to
devote to KAON construction.
o
If there is no U.S. contribution to this construction other contenders for funding
in Canada will probably kill the KAON project claiming that the U.S. backed
away from its earlier commitment and thus is to blame for the project failure.
0
Because such action could poison U.S./Canadian relations I would recommend a
symmetrical arrangement whereby Canada contributes to the SSC and we
contribute to KAON. This seems to me to have a win-win potential.
o
Canada -- and OSTP -- view the KAON issue as a government-to-government one
that would require State Department involvement. Secretary Watkins has stated
that he views it as a White House rather than DOE matter. Both DOE and NSF
support research in the relevant areas but neither has funds available in existing
programs to provide the $75 million in question.
0
U.S. scientists have given KAON science high priority as excellent science
providing U.S. scientists with access to a unique, high intensity, hadron facility.
The formal Nuclear Science Advisory Committee recommended the project in
1989 and reaffirmed that recommendation this year. It is clear however that
neither DOE nor NSF can provide the necessary funding from their research
budgets.
RECOMMENDATION:
I would suggest that you respond to Minister Campbell with an indication of U.S.
interest and that you request State to initiate discussions with the Canadians to achieve
the above mentioned symmetric arrangement.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 1, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR BRENT SCOWCROFT
FROM:
ALLAN BROMLEY
Allan
SUBJECT:
THE CANADIAN KAON PROJECT
Enclosed herewith is the draft of a memo that I am about to send Jim Baker. Before
doing so, however, I would welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have.
The potential impact on U.S./Canadian relations I think far outweighs the dollars
involved -- quite apart from the fact that this really is a remarkably cost-effective and
important project from the scientific point of view.
Enclosure
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 1, 1992
DRAFT
MEMORANDUM FOR JAMES A. BAKER III
FROM:
D. ALLAN BROMLEY
SUBJECT:
THE SSC AND A CANADIAN PROJECT, KAON
I understand that Kim Campbell, Canadian Minister of Justice and the member of the
Canadian Cabinet with special responsibility for the Province of British Columbia, will
contact either DOS or you to request that the U.S. join Canada in constructing a major
research facility, KAON, in British Columbia. This will be a world class facility for
particle and nuclear physics with unique capabilities on the high-intensity frontier.
0
Canada proposes to build and operate KAON, but requires that 1/3 of the
approximately $1 billion (Canadian) construction cost be provided by non-
Canadian sources. Canada will assume responsibility for operating costs and the
2/3 of the construction costs are to be divided equally between the federal
government and the Province of British Columbia.
0
This facility has been under consideration for several years and an equivalent
facility was proposed several years ago for construction at the Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory. The strength of both was the ability to study very rare
and correspondingly important fundamental interactions in particle and nuclear
physics.
0
DOE and NSF requested input from a panel of experts in 1989. It recommended
that we not build the U.S. machine but rather support the Canadian construction
with a total of $75 million over a 5 year construction period. The panel
considered this a very cost effective approach since it was known that Canada
would pay all operating costs while some 33% of the scientific users would be
American. The construction cost for the competing Los Alamos facility was
proposed originally as about $750 million. Clearly only one such facility is
required in North America.
0
DOE has been negotiating with Canada, in parallel with KAON discussions, to
obtain a Canadian commitment to contribute to the construction of SSC and an
MOU has been signed by DOE and the Canadian Commercial Corporation to
facilitate this. These negotiations are still in progress and no definite figures
have been discussed although there is clear interest in the Canadian particle
physics community in having Canada participate.
o
In November of 1990 at the invitation of the Speaker of the Canadian House of
Commons, John Fraser, I visited Ottawa and had discussions with the Deputy
Prime Minister and several Cabinet members including Kim Campbell. Having
checked with DOE (Jim Decker, Acting Director OER) in advance I indicated to
the Canadians that if they decided to move forward with KAON, DOE expected
to respond to the advice of its advisory committee and provide $75 million over
5 years toward the construction.
o
Subsequently Henson Moore, while Deputy Secretary of Energy, also visited
Ottawa and made similar statements to senior Canadian officials.
o
After substantial delay the Canadian federal government and the provincial
government have recently announced their joint intention to proceed with the
KAON project - with the proviso, similar to that for our SSC project, that one
third of the total cost be borne by non-governmental funds.
o
Because DOE's appropriations are almost certainly going to be less than the
President requested in FY '93 and, because, in addition, political pressures have
forced DOE to include a new injector for the Fermilabs accelerator -- which they
did not want -- in their program, senior DOE officials now takes the position that
they simply do not have the $15 million dollars per year, over the next 5 years, to
devote to KAON construction.
o
If there is no U.S. contribution to this construction other contenders for funding
in Canada will probably kill the KAON project claiming that the U.S. backed
away from its earlier commitment and thus is to blame for the project failure.
o
Because such action could poison U.S./Canadian relations I would recommend a
symmetrical arrangement whereby Canada contributes to the SSC and we
contribute to KAON. This seems to me to have a win-win potential.
o
Canada and OSTP view the KAON issue as a government-to-government one
that would require State Department involvement. Secretary Watkins has stated
that he views it as a White House rather than DOE matter. Both DOE and NSF
support research in the relevant areas but neither has funds available in existing
programs to provide the $75 million in question.
0
U.S. scientists have given KAON high priority as excellent science providing
U.S. scientists with access to a unique, high intensity, hadron facility.
The
formal Nuclear Science Advisory Committee recommended the project in 1989
and reaffirmed that recommendation this year. It is clear however that neither
DOE nor NSF can provide the necessary funding from their research budgets.
RECOMMENDATION:
I would suggest that you respond to Minister Campbell with an indication of
U.S. interest and that you request State to initiate discussions with the Canadians to
achieve the above mentioned symmetric arrangement.