NEWS OF THE WEEK

Astronauts retrieve European space platform During spacewalk outside space shuttle Endeavour, U.S. astronaut G. David Low examines EURECA (European Retrievable Carrier), stowed in the shuttle's aft cargo bay after its recovery from space with the aid of the shuttle's Canadian-built remote manipulator system (at right). Endeavour landed July 1 at Kennedy Space Cen­ter in Florida after 10 days in Earth orbit—extended by two days because of bad weather for landing. Retrieval of the European Space Agency's EURECA—a space platform launched into orbit last August by space shuttle Atlantis to conduct 15 microgravity experiments in materials and life sciences and radiobiology—is one of several missions carried out successfully by the Endeav­our's six-member crew. The shuttle bore Spacehab-1, the first commercially developed and owned spacelab to fly on a shuttle— in what the National Aeronautics & Space Administration calls "the beginning of a new era in the commercial development of space." In this 9.2-foot-long, 13.5-foot-diameter pressurized mod­ule, the crew conducted a broad range of experiments in materi­als processing, life sciences, and biotechnology. It also did a vari­ety of experiments elsewhere on the shuttle. And Low and anoth­er astronaut performed spacewalk tests to prepare for a mission planned for December to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

hours and required some 50 workers, starting with use of a high-pressure wa­ter lance to clear a path for pump inser­tion.

Harry Harmon, who is vice president of Westinghouse Hartford and deputy head of its Tank Waste Remediation Sys­tem Division, notes that tests are now being carried out on the centrifugal pump. "Our goal is to create a continu­ous release of gases with the least amount of agitation," he explains.

Jack W. Lentsch, manager of the hy­

drogen mitigation project, tells C&EN that three tests have been conducted since the pump was installed. Each time, the pump was operated at 380 rpm for eight seconds. Lentsch says that only 7 cu ft of hydrogen gas was released upon installation, and the tests have not re­leased any appreciable amounts since then. Beginning July 12, the pump will be run for longer periods. Lentsch adds that so far things have gone "far better than expected."

Deborah lllman

SSC mismanagement flayed at House hearing The House voted June 24 to end funding for construction of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC). But that hasn't stopped Rep. John D. Dingell (D.-Mich.), chairman of both the House Committee on Energy & Commerce and its Sub­committee on Oversight & Investiga­tions (O&I), from continuing his scath­ing attacks on the project's management.

In his opening statement for an O&I hearing on SSC management early this month, Dingell charged that "SSC ranks among the worst projects we have seen in terms of contract mismanagement and failed government oversight." He reeled off a number of problems, begin­ning with the selection of Universities Research Association (URA), a nonprofit consortium of 80 research universities, as prime contractor to run the facility.

"While skilled in technical scientific

matters, the universities had limited ex­perience in construction," Dingell point­ed out, adding that "everyone from the subcontractors to the Department of En­ergy to the various audit agencies now recognize this choice of prime contractor was a mistake." (URA was the only one to bid on the project out of 121 organiza­tions contacted by DOE.)

Furthermore, Dingell charged, "fi­nancial data on this project are dubious at best," and perhaps worst of all, "URA has exhibited a level of arro­gance and intolerance toward govern­ment oversight rarely observed in deal­ing even with defense contractors."

Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary testified that DOE also has experienced continued frustrations in obtaining timely access to accurate program in­formation from URA. "I am not confi­

dent that the full costs of the program are being identified and tracked," she said. "This project does not have the sort of team relationship and project, leadership that exists in other depart­ment construction projects and which I expect from a contractor."

O'Leary said DOE now is reviewing its options, including contract termina­tion, renegotiation to strengthen DOE's policy and oversight role, or breaking the work into two contracts—one for design and scientific work, the other for conventional construction. The re­view will be completed this month.

UAR president John S. Toll defended the group's management, although he said he was disturbed by any percep­tions that information was improperly withheld. "Aside from the effects of substantial underfunding in the past several years," he noted, the SSC "is generally meeting budget and schedule goals, and the total cost estimate [$10 billion to $11 billion] prepared several years ago remains valid when adjust­ments are made for delays."

Toll adds he has "been surprised in re­cent weeks by the extent to which the SSC still is perceived as a hypothetical idea by so much of the public. These magnets, tunnels, and buildings are not hypotheti­cal. The scientists, engineers, and techni­cians and their families who have moved to Texas—and those who work on the SSC in hundreds of locations around the country—are not hypothetical."

Janice Long

6 JULY 12,1993 C&EN