CEA TO ABANDON BUBBLE CHAMBER?

The million-dollar bubble chamber of the Cambridge Electron Accelerator--considered by many scientists the heart of its operation--may not be used again unless the CEA obtain funds for a new building to house it.

Thomas L. Collins, CEA assistant director and senior research fellow, said Tuesday that the bubble chamber, for safety reasons, probably will not be returned to the CEA experimental hall. The hall was devastated by an explosion July 5. Most observers, Collins said, now believe that the blast was touched off when liquid hydrogen being fed into the bubble chamber spilled onto the floor.

A full report on the causes of the explosion may not be ready until early next year, if then. Atomic Energy Commission investigators said Tuesday that the date for completing their final report had been pushed back to December or January. They declined to say whether they would release any interim reports.

According to reliable sources, CEA director Stanley Livington last month prepared a comprehensive report on the blast but withheld it at the request of the AEC.

Present evidence indicates that it will be easier to prevent an explosion in the future if the bubble chamber is housed separately, Collins said. "Keeping hydrogen from spilling will be a simple matter," he explained. "That's not the point. The problem is, if a foolish thing like that does happens, can we keep it from causing a serious explosion? In a separate building, I think we can."

The building would be located on Harvard-owned land adjacent to the present CEA complex and would probably cost less than $500,000 to build, Collins estimated. He said that the AEC has agreed to make a special request to have funds for the building included in the next federal budget.

But the request to the government must be made by October, leaving a month for the CEA to ask formally for the facility, for its joint Harvard-M.I.T. administrative committee to approve it, and for Harvard to okay use of the land.

The CEA could operate successfully without its bubble chamber, which is now in the first stages of re-assembly, if a new building is not approved, Collins said.

He added that many scientists disagree with him.