THE KAON FACILITY - ITS PHYSICS AND ITS STATUS

The Canadian KAON project is now very close to a positive funding deci sion. It covers a wide range of science including the antiproton physi cs which is the focus of this conference. At KAON a system of accelera tors will provide a 30 GeV, 100 muA primary proton beam. This very int ense primary beam then produces secondary beams of kaons, antiprotons, other hadrons, neutrinos etc. in quantities never available before. T hese are new tools which, for particle physics will confront the quest ions raised by the standard model of quarks leptons and unified forces . For strong interaction physics KAON will play a leading role in hadr on spectroscopy and in the behaviour of atomic nuclei at medium energy . the system of accelerator rings on which KAON is based is briefly de scribed. The science of KAON is outlined. In its funding KAON now ha.s construction commitments for about two-thirds of the required $708M ( Cdn, 1989) from the governments of Canada and British Columbia. Before construction can begin these two governments must have appropriate co mmitments for the remaining one third from KAON's international partne rs. At the time of this conference those pledges are actively being so ught. When successful, the six-year KAON construction can begin. For a ntiproton physics KAON will provide intense high quality beams above t he 2 GeV limit of LEAR. If and when SuperLEAR is built KAON would stil l provide complementary antiproton facilities.