A total of $640 million has been allotted forclosing the site, though Feldman says it may costas much as $1 billion.

The Future: An Exodus to Europe?

In the wake of the supercollider's demise manyscientists hope to be able to go to Europe andwork with a smaller version of the SSC--the LargeHadiron Collider (LHC)--in Geneva, Switzerland.

The LHC is slated to be based at the laboratoryof CERN, a multinational physics organizationfunded by 19 European countries.

While it has not yet been built, Brandenburgsays the CERN council is expected to approve theventure early next year.

Even so, scientists say the LHC will not be acomparable substitute for the SSC.

Feldman says the LHC will only be able tomuster one-third of the energy that the SSC wouldhave, so the conclusions from its experiments willbe much less certain. "It's a much larger gamble,"says Feldman.

Despite the reduced power of the LHC, Glashowsays it may be "the only game in town."

Regardless, U.S. participation in the Europeanfunded project may not be easy.

"The Europeans were already pretty far down theroad planning the LHC and deciding who would bedoing what on which project, so there was limitedspace to join up," says Brandenburg.

Feldman says that if the Europeans welcomeAmerican scientists to work on the LHC, the UnitedStates will be expected to contribute $400 millionto the project--an amount he is not sure thegovernment will be willing to offer.

"My opinion is that funds for high energyphysics will not increase, so we must live withinour present budget," says Glashow.

Instead of joining the LHC like otherprofessors hope to, Mann says he intends toexplore areas unrelated to particle accelerators,such as neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay.Mann recognizes that these areas have lesspotential for yielding a break through, but sayshe prefers not having to travel constantly to andfrom Europe.

A special sub-committee has been appointed bythe High Energy Physics Advisory Panel(HEPAP)--which advises the government on aspectsof science policy--to determine the future of highenergy physics.

Huth, who sits on this "crystal ball"committee, says physicists are consideringbuilding cheaper instruments smaller versions ofthe SSC and machines which collide protons withelectrons. "It's a complementary approach, not asubstitute to the SSC," Huth says.